Duke sophomore Matt Hurt used the pandemic to add 20 pounds of muscle. He discusses his weight gain and how that will impact his game this year.
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00:00Yeah, for sure, it's, you know, I got home around mid-March last year, took a week or
00:05two off since the season ended and just try to focus on just eating right, eating a lot
00:10and just stay working out and lifting.
00:12You know, I got with our strength coach, Coach Will, three, four times a week and he lifted.
00:17So just doing that every day during quarantine.
00:20I was lucky enough to find a gym and a weight room.
00:24So I was blessed with that.
00:25So I think just doing that day by day until I came back, back to Duke on August 2nd was
00:31really a benefit for me.
00:33I feel like it's going to impact a big part of my game because, you know, a knock on me
00:38was, you know, I was a little lighter guarding the floor.
00:41People would try to take advantage of me down low, but I feel like this year, especially
00:44on defense and also on offense, just like attacking it, be strong with the ball and
00:49just taking contact and finishing over taller defenders.
00:54Yeah, you know, I think, I think coach has been using me a lot of different ways on the
00:57perimeter and the blocks if there's a mismatch, just trying to be, just trying to be an attack
01:02one all game.
01:05Right now, playing away, I'm about 240.
01:09So playing away last year was around 220.
01:12So it's about, it's about 220 or about 20 pounds of muscle.
01:17And then I think, I think it was more like just like being motivated to like get better
01:21and to see like the feedback from my coaches, just try to get better during quarantine.
01:27Yeah, you know, just just trying to get trying to be in the post more, you know, I'm a lot
01:33more comfortable in the post, whereas a bigger guy or shorter guy, I mean, that's that's
01:37usually stronger than me last year.
01:39So I think just knowing that, you know, I had 20 pounds and that I feel I feel a lot
01:44my base feels a lot better.
01:47So I think just using that more in the post, but also also driving to I think, just be
01:53strong with the ball.
01:54You know, there's gonna be a lot of people trying to swipe with the ball when I'm driving
01:56the lane, but just just trying to just trying to be strong and just go through contact.