Prospect Update: Michael Duax (2021)

A top prospect in Iowa's Class of 2021, Dubuque, Hempstead sophomore Michael Duax has backed up his high-ranking with a tremendous season.

The 6-foot-5 wing is playing in his first season with the varsity, and after impressing on the 15U circuit last spring and summer, he's averaging 15.5 points and 5.8 rebounds with the Mustangs.

“Recently, I've been getting into the weight-room and trying to get a lot stronger. And I've been working a lot on a lot on shooting and ball-handling, because those have been my weaknesses,” said Duax, who's shooting 54 percent from the floor and 50 percent from deep this season.

“I've always been pretty good at attacking and trying to drive, so I've been working on my shooting a lot more recently.”

After playing freshman ball last season, Duax has hit the ground running with the varsity. It took some time for him to get acclimated to the speed of the game, but now he, and the team are playing very well.

“Recently, I've been getting a lot more comfortable with the fast pace of varsity. Early on, I was having a lot of turnovers and the the game was going faster than my mind could handle. Now, I've calmed down a lot, and have gotten a lot more comfortable with the pace of the varsity games,” said Duax, whose Mustangs have won four of six after a 1-6 start to the season.

“We've been getting a lot better shots on offense, just moving the ball around a lot better, getting post touches. And I feel like our team is a lot better than our record shows, we've had some tough losses, like one or two point games.”

When his sophomore season is finished, he'll head into an offseason with the Martin Brothers 16U.

Last summer, Duax was a breakout star with the Martin Brothers, and says Northern Iowa and Iowa reached out to him. He's also gotten letters from other Division I schools.

“We're hoping to be a really good team this summer, and it's going to be a lot of fun. And I'm hoping to get a little more recruitment coming in this summer,” said Duax.

“I'm just hoping to get a little more attention and a little more activity, hearing from a wider range of schools.”