BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Freshman guard Jared McCain knew the form of scorching capturing that helped him set the Duke crew report for 3-pointers in a males’s NCAA match recreation was coming. He was “due.”
McCain hit eight from behind the arc in Sunday’s 93-55 demolition of James Madison at Barclays Middle. He made his first six 3-point makes an attempt and completed with 30 factors, simply days after being so near a breakout efficiency in Friday’s win over Vermont.
Three of McCain’s makes an attempt in that contest have been midway down earlier than rimming out. They’d the standout freshman smiling on the rim, figuring out it was solely a matter of time. The time got here within the second spherical two days later.
“Yeah, I used to be speaking to my household, when these pictures go out and in [like Friday night], I do know I used to be resulting from make some extra the opposite night time, and [Sunday] was that night time,” McCain mentioned. “Yeah, after I see just a few go in now, I smirk on the rim as a result of I do know the rim simply needs to present me again some makes, and that occurred [Sunday].”
McCain beat the earlier Duke report of seven 3-pointers in an NCAA match by Quinn Prepare dinner in 2014. He did it regardless of sitting out the ultimate seven-plus minutes of the blowout.
Total, McCain went 8-for-11 from past the arc. Duke was 14-of-28 on 3s as a crew and hopes to hold that scorching capturing into the Candy 16.
“It helps when you will have a man like Jared McCain,” coach Jon Scheyer mentioned. “He broke the Duke report at present for 3s within the NCAA match. We have had some fairly good shooters right here, so to interrupt that report with eight, I am positive he is mad at me for taking him out early. He will be mad at me. He needed to be in there extra. However he had an effective way about him, clearly.”
It began proper from the leap, when McCain hit a 3-pointer from the left aspect on the opening possession. The Blue Devils (26-8) by no means trailed.
After McCain’s sixth 3-pointer and not using a miss, he was clearly within the zone. After that make, he provided what appeared like a Michael Jordan shoulder shrug. Not that he even remembered.
“I do not know what I did on the market, to be trustworthy with you,” he mentioned. “I feel so, I am fairly positive that is what I hit. Yeah, I do not know what I used to be doing. I wasn’t actually aware on the market.”
It isn’t a efficiency that got here utterly out of nowhere. McCain, one of many high freshman within the nation, dropped 35 factors in a February recreation in opposition to Wake Forest.
He scored 15 within the first-round win over Vermont, and knew it may have been far more.
“Yeah, it is the most effective feeling on the planet when you understand the work that you simply put in is exhibiting up on the court docket, particularly in such an enormous recreation like this, to go to the Candy 16,” he mentioned. “For these kinds of video games, you simply wish to win and I wish to do every little thing I can to win, and [Sunday] if it is making pictures, making 3s, no matter it was, I am simply grateful for the chance to go to the Candy 16.”
Fourth-seeded Duke will play the winner of Houston (1)-Texas A&M (9) within the subsequent spherical.
The eight 3-pointers for McCain tied for the second most in a recreation by a freshman in NCAA match historical past. They have been essentially the most since Kentucky’s Eric Bledsoe hit eight 3s in 2010.
The new capturing wasn’t all that shocking to James Madison (32-4). The Dukes knew what McCain may do.
“We knew he is an awesome shooter,” coach Mark Byington mentioned. “That wasn’t a shock. It was simpler to determine the place he was when it was within the half-court motion, however once they received the rebounds and kickouts, we could not discover him in transition. We did not discover him.
“He received off to a scorching begin and he put us behind after which we began compounding our errors by how effectively he was taking part in.”