Through the first three outings of Matthew Hurt’s debut season in the NBL Australia, the 2019-21 Duke basketball forward is leading the South East Melbourne Phoenix (0-3) at 18.0 points per contest.

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The 24-year-old, a former five-star prep from Minnesota who went undrafted after earning the 2020-21 ACC Most Improved Player hardware as a Duke basketball sophomore, has yet to score less than 16 points in a game for the Phoenix. And he’s yet to shoot worse than 53 percent from the field. Plus, he’s chipping in 7.7 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.0 blocks, and only 1.0 turnovers across his 32.8 minutes per game.

In other words, despite the team’s opening three-game skid, Hurt has quickly become a high-scoring attraction in NBL action:

Hurt’s stats are on par with his past two years with the Memphis Hustle in the G League. He averaged 17.6 points between those campaigns, shooting better than 50 percent from the field, and drew his first eight NBA regular season appearances via a pair of 10-day contracts with the Memphis Grizzlies late in the year.

After averaging only 9.7 points per game as a Duke basketball rookie, Hurt bulked up and enhanced his repertoire to the tune of 18.3 points per game while shooting 44.4 percent beyond the arc as a second-year Blue Devil.

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