Photo credit: Rob Kinnan-USA TODAY Sports
Duke Basketball: Blue Devils Have New Rebounding Machine
Duke basketball freshman Jared McCain, leading the No. 9 Blue Devils (18-5, 9-3 ACC) with 47 makes beyond the arc, has been relatively frigid as a sharpshooter recently. Between the past four games, he's 5-for-22 from 3-point land, including a 1-for-8 clip in Saturday's 80-65 home win over unranked Boston College (13-10, 4-8 ACC).
No worries, for what the 6-foot-3, 195-pound starting guard has lacked in marksmanship from downtown, he's more than made up for on the glass. In three of Duke's past four outings, McCain has paced the Blue Devils with 10 rebounds or more, including 10 overall and three on the offensive end against the Eagles.
The former five-star McDonald's All-American from California had shown flashes of his rebounding prowess in high school and earlier this season, as he recorded double-digit boards twice as a Blue Devil before this latest stretch.
But it sounds like McCain's now-undeniable knack for finding the optimal position to outrebound considerably bigger players has culminated in second-year Duke basketball head coach Jon Scheyer tweaking the 19-year-old's role in at least one situation.
"These past two games, [Scheyer] allowed me to go to the offensive boards, so I was happy," McCain, who added 11 points and five assists without committing a turnover on Saturday, said in the locker room afterward. "I usually guard someone who doesn't really crash, so I usually just kind of roam and get some rebounds.
"I feel like it's a skill I have that I just love doing. I feel like it just involves effort."
Scheyer has noticed that effort.
"Jared has got a great nose for the ball," he noted. "So, mixing him up getting in there is a big deal."
There's no doubt McCain, averaging 12.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1.0 steals, has entered the ACC Rookie of the Year conversation while becoming more comfortable as a go-to leader.
"Especially coming in as a freshman, you don't want to try and step on people's toes because, obviously, there's leaders [already] here," he told Blue Devil Country on SI.com (video of the interview in the above post). "But now, I feel like I'm getting confidence. And they have trust in me to tell them the right thing.
"I've been in so many of these games now, it feels like, so I'm able to just communicate to them what I see, what we all see. There's so many leaders out there on the court. That's what's going to make us great."
NEXT DUKE BASKETBALL GAME: at home versus unranked Wake Forest (16-7, 8-4 ACC), 7 p.m. ET Monday (ESPN)
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