The air around the JMU vs Duke matchup was that the Blue Devils were not only ripe for an upset, but that it wouldn’t even really be an upset. In the words of Michael Jordan – (They) took that personally. The Blue Devils had heard throughout the year that they’d been branded with the soft label – to be honest looking back at the 2 games leading up to the NCAA Tournament – it was hard to fully disagree. The Blue Devils were slow to loose balls, bullied and consistently missed defensive assignments. That coupled with some questionable guard play and it was somewhat understandable how they would be doubted by those in the national media.
Duke delivered. The Dukes of JMU may not have come into the game Sunday night feeling like underdogs but they certainly left feeling that way. Duke punched first and grabbed ahold of the game, never really letting JMU up for air. Dominating in every phase of the game, the Blue Devils rode the offensive firepower that was freshman Jared McCain, who dazzled the Barclays Center crowd to the tune of 22 first half points on his way to 30 for the game. Dukes defense and rebounding were the mechanisms for maintaining and expanding their 22 point lead after the break. The Blue Devils held the Dukes to under 40% shooting and to just 22% from beyond the arc while shooting over 50% in both categories for the game themselves. Perhaps the biggest stat beyond Duke’s offensive onslaught was the points off of turnovers, Duke only allowed the Dukes 4 in that category, clearly a point of influence – in JMU’s first round game against Wisconsin they scored 27 of of the Badgers’ turnovers. The Blue Devils were able to turn the tables by scoring 24 points off of JMU turnovers. The other stat of note for the Blue Devils was their ability to convert their offensive rebounds into points to the tune of 21.
Freshman Jared McCain cemented his Duke legacy in just his first season and his second game in the NCAA Tournament making eight 3-pointers, including his first six in the opening 20 minutes, setting a new Duke record for made 3-pointers in the NCAA Tournament, bettering the standard of seven triples by Quinn Cook against Mercer on March 21, 2014. McCain also became just the second Duke freshman to score 30 or more points in an NCAA Tournament game. Zion Williamson holds the program’s NCAA Tournament freshman scoring record with 32 points against UCF on March 22, 2019. McCain did not commit a turnover, becoming the first freshman since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985 to score at least 30 points with no turnovers. Duke boasted 4 double-figure scorers including Tyrese Proctor who scored 18 on 7-15 shooting including 4-10 from 3 to go along with his 5 assists. Jeremy Roach, who despite dislocating a finger was 5-8 from the field scoring 15. Roach also led the team with 6 assists. and sophomore Kyle Filipowski who scored 14 points on 6-8 shooting adding 5 boards and 4 assists.
An impressive performance from a much maligned team, the Blue Devils cruised to a 93-55 win in Brooklyn and a date with the Houston Cougars in Texas.
