McCain cans eight 3s to put Duke into Sweet 16

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Freshman guard Jared McCain knew the kind of hot shooting that helped him set the Duke team record for 3-pointers in a men’s NCAA tournament game was coming. He was “due.”

McCain hit eight from behind the arc in Sunday’s 93-55 demolition of James Madison at Barclays Center. He made his first six 3-point attempts and finished with 30 points, just days after being so close to a breakout performance in Friday’s win over Vermont.

Three of McCain’s attempts in that contest were halfway down before rimming out. They had the standout freshman smiling at the rim, knowing it was only a matter of time. The time came in the second round two days later.

“Yeah, I was talking to my family, when those shots go in and out [like Friday night], I know I was due to make some more the other night, and [Sunday] was that night,” McCain said. “Yeah, when I see a few go in now, I smirk at the rim because I know the rim just wants to give me back some makes, and that happened [Sunday].”

McCain beat the previous Duke record of seven 3-pointers in an NCAA tournament by Quinn Cook in 2014. He did it despite sitting out the final seven-plus minutes of the blowout.

Overall, McCain went 8-for-11 from beyond the arc. Duke was 14-of-28 on 3s as a team and hopes to carry that hot shooting into the Sweet 16.

“It helps when you have a guy like Jared McCain,” coach Jon Scheyer said. “He broke the Duke record today for 3s in the NCAA tournament. We’ve had some pretty good shooters here, so to break that record with eight, I’m sure he’s mad at me for taking him out early. He’s going to be mad at me. He wanted to be in there more. But he had a great way about him, obviously.”

It started right from the jump, when McCain hit a 3-pointer from the left side on the opening possession. The Blue Devils (26-8) never trailed.

After McCain’s sixth 3-pointer without a miss, he was clearly in the zone. After that make, he offered what looked like a Michael Jordan shoulder shrug. Not that he even remembered.

“I don’t know what I did out there, to be honest with you,” he said. “I think so, I’m pretty sure that’s what I hit. Yeah, I don’t know what I was doing. I wasn’t really conscious out there.”

It’s not a performance that came completely out of nowhere. McCain, one of the top freshman in the country, dropped 35 points in a February game against Wake Forest.

He scored 15 in the first-round win over Vermont, and knew it could have been much more.

“Yeah, it’s the best feeling in the world when you know the work that you put in is showing up on the court, especially in such a big game like this, to go to the Sweet 16,” he said. “For these types of games, you just want to win and I want to do everything I can to win, and [Sunday] if it’s making shots, making 3s, whatever it was, I’m just grateful for the opportunity to go to the Sweet 16.”

Fourth-seeded Duke will play the winner of Houston (1)-Texas A&M (9) in the next round.

The eight 3-pointers for McCain tied for the second most in a game by a freshman in NCAA tournament history. They were the most since Kentucky’s Eric Bledsoe hit eight 3s in 2010.

The hot shooting wasn’t all that surprising to James Madison (32-4). The Dukes knew what McCain could do.

“We knew he’s a great shooter,” coach Mark Byington said. “That wasn’t a surprise. It was easier to figure out where he was when it was in the half-court action, but when they got the rebounds and kickouts, we couldn’t find him in transition. We didn’t find him.

“He got off to a hot start and he put us behind and then we started compounding our mistakes by how well he was playing.”