Jalen Duke begins his first year as a graduate assistant for the men’s basketball team after playing one season with the Phoenix.
Duke began his basketball career at Tennessee State University before transferring and spending his last season at CU in 2019-20, where he brought in several accolades. Duke notched NAIA All-American Honorable Mention honors after averaging 17.4 points and 5.0 rebounds per game.
Duke led the team in scoring his senior year averaging 17.4 points per game. He ranked 29th in the nation in scoring with 521 points. Duke became the first Cumberland Men's Basketball player to score over 500 points in a season since Brandon Springer eclipsed it in 2009-10. He ranked first in the nation in three-point field goal percentage shooting 54.6% on the year.
The Nashville, Tenn., native netted double-figure scoring in 26 out of 30 games in 2019-20. He reached 20 or more points on 10 different occasions and scored 30 or more in an overtime loss to Martin Methodist and a road victory at Oakwood.
Duke earned Mid-South Conference Player of the Week honors in December 2019 after leading Cumberland to a 2-1 week. The senior netted 22 points against Oakwood, 19 points against Shawnee State, and 20 points versus Pikeville. Duke also received the team's Champion of Character honor for the season.
Prior to Cumberland, Duke spent four years down the road at Tennessee State University. He redshirted his first season with the Tigers and made five appearances off the bench his redshirt-freshman season. His redshirt-sophomore season, he saw more action appearing in 17 games off the bench shooting 55% from the field. His redshirt-junior season, Duke started the first five games of the season before missing the rest of the campaign.
At Martin Luther King High School in Nashville, Duke is the All-time leading scorer in school history, scoring 1,882 career points as a four-year starter. He averaged 25.0 points and 8.0 rebounds as a senior earning District 10AA All-District Team and All-District Tournament Team as a senior. His junior season, Duke earned District 10AA Most Valuable Player and All-District Tournament Team after putting up 21.7 points per game. He posted 16.0 points per game as a sophomore, earning All-District Team and All-District Tournament Team accolades.
Duke earned his bachelor's degree from Tennessee State University in mass communication and is pursuing a master's in sport management from Cumberland.
