McCain cans 8 threes to put Duke into Sweet 16

• Jordan Raanan, ESPN Staff WriterMar 24, 2024, 08:58 PM ET

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  Jordan Raanan is a reporter for NFL Nation at ESPN. Raanan covers the New york city Giants. You can follow him via Twitter @JordanRaanan.

BROOKLYN, N.Y.– Freshman guard Jared McCain knew the type of hot shooting that assisted him set the Duke group record for 3-pointers in a males’s NCAA tournament game was coming. He was “due.”

McCain hit 8 from behind the arc in Sunday’s 93-55 demolition of James Madison at Barclays Center. He made his first 6 3-point attempts and finished with 30 points, simply days after being so near 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, understanding it was just a matter of time. The time came in the second round 2 days later.

“Yeah, I was talking with my family, when those shots enter and out [like Friday night], I understand 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 due to the fact that I understand the rim simply wants to give me back some makes, and that happened [Sunday]”

McCain beat the previous Duke record of seven 3-pointers in an NCAA competition by Quinn Cook in 2014. He did it in spite of sitting out the last seven-plus minutes of the blowout.3 s

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

“It helps when you have a guy like Jared McCain,” coach Jon Scheyer stated. “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 make certain he’s mad at me for taking him out early. He’s going to seethe at me. He wished to be in there more. But he had a fantastic way about him, clearly.”

It started right from the dive, when McCain struck a 3-pointer from the left side on the opening ownership. The Blue Devils (26-8) never ever 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 kept in mind.

“I do not know what I did out there, to be truthful with you,” he stated. “I believe 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 no place. McCain, one of the leading freshman in the country, dropped 35 points in a February game versus Wake Forest.He scored 15 in the first-round win over Vermont, and understood it could have been much more.”Yeah, it’s the very best sensation in the

world when you understand the work that you put in is showing up on the court, especially in such a huge game like this, to go to the Sugary food 16,” he said.”For these types of games, you just want to win and I wish to do whatever I can to win, and [Sunday] if it’s making shots, making 3s, whatever it was, I’m simply grateful for the opportunity to go to the Sugary food 16.”Fourth-seeded Duke will play

the winner of Houston (1)- Texas A&M (9)in the next round.The 8 3-pointers for McCain connected for the second most in

a game by a freshman in NCAA tournament history. They were the most considering that Kentucky’s Eric Bledsoe hit 8 3s in 2010. The hot shooting wasn’t all that surprising to James Madison (32-4).

The Dukes knew what McCain might do. “We understood he’s a terrific shooter,”coach Mark Byington said.”That wasn’t a surprise. It

was much easier to find out where he was when it remained in the half-court action, however when they got the rebounds and kickouts, we couldn’t find him in shift. We didn’t find him.”He left to a hot start and he put us behind and then we began intensifying our mistakes by how well he was playing.”