Duke key player suspended for 15 games due to a banned substance

• Duke opened the scoring from beyond the arc, as Jared McCain drilled a 3-pointer on the first possession of the game. A pull-up jumper from Jeremy Roach and a dunk by Kyle Filipowski put the Blue Devils ahead early, 7-2. Duke remained in front, 12-4, at the first timeout of the half courtesy of McCain’s second 3-pointer of the opening minutes.
• McCain remained hot from deep out of the break, nailing a corner 3-pointer to give Duke its first double-digit lead of the game, 15-5. Back-to-back triples by Tyrese Proctor extended the Blue Devils’ advantage to 12, 21-9, as the clock ticked under 12 minutes and McCain canned his fourth from distance on the next possession, forcing a JMU timeout.
• A fifth 3-pointer from McCain tied the Duke freshman NCAA Tournament record for made 3-pointers, putting the Blue Devils in front, 31-16, with just over seven minutes remaining before halftime. Duke’s defense held JMU without a made field goal for three minutes and continued to extend its lead, going in front 40-19 with a Filipowski layup – triggering JMU’s second timeout of the first half.
• A seventh 3-pointer by McCain tied the 3-pointer program record in an NCAA Tournament game right out of halftime and Filipowski converted a three-point-play to make it a 26-point game, 53-27.
• McCain scored his 30th point from beyond the arc while simultaneously setting a new Duke program record for 3-pointers made in the NCAA Tournament. Proctor made his fourth 3-pointer of the night and Roach drilled his first 3-pointer on Duke’s next possession, to put Duke ahead by 27, 74-46, with just under 10 minutes remaining.
• Sean Stewart slammed home two alley-oop dunks and TJ Power made a corner 3-pointer, giving Duke a 90-53 lead at the final media timeout, as Duke went on to close out the 93-55 victory.

NOTES

• With the NCAA Tournament second-round win over James Madison, Duke advances to its 29th Sweet 16 and first under second-year head coach Jon Scheyer.
• In the past 25 NCAA Tournaments, Duke has advanced to the Sweet 16 in 19 of them.
• The Blue Devils made a season-high 14 3-pointers on 28 attempts, draining at least half of their shots from long distance for the sixth time this season.
• Duke’s 93 points matches the most by the Blue Devils in the NCAA Tournament since a 93-85 first-round win over UNC-Wilmington on March 17, 2016.
• The 93 points against JMU are the third-most scored by Duke this season, and the most since the Blue Devils beat Queens, 106-69, on Dec. 30, 2023. That point total is also the most allowed by JMU in a regulation game this season.
• The Blue Devils’ 38-point triumph is the largest margin of victory in an NCAA Tournament second-round contest since a 97-56 win over Tulsa on March 14, 1999.
• Duke’s defense held JMU to 55 points, matching a season-low by the Dukes and 29.0 below its season average of 84.0. The Blue Devils have held 29 of their 34 opponents to below their respective scoring average.
• The Blue Devils distributed 22 assists on 33 made field goals, marking the sixth time in the 2023-24 campaign tor register 20-plus helpers.
• Duke turned the ball over just six times compared to JMU’s 14 miscues, resulting in a 24-4 advantage for the Blue Devils in points-off-turnovers.
• The Blue Devils’ disruptive defense amassed a season-best 12 steals.
• The Blue Devils move to 121-40 (.752) all-time in the NCAA Tournament, the best winning percentage in tournament history by a team with a minimum of 20 games played.
• Jared McCain made 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 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’s 22 first-half points are the most by any player so far in the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
• McCain matched the Duke freshman record of 3-pointers made, which he set earlier this season at Florida State.
• 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.
• Tyrese Proctor added four 3-pointers of his own en route to 18 total points.
• When Proctor makes at least three from beyond the arc, Duke is now 13-1.
• Jeremy Roach scored 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting, while also dishing a team-high six assists and committing zero turnovers.
• Kyle Filipowski also tallied double-digits, finishing with 14 points – his third game in double-figures in the last four contests, while adding five rebounds, four assists, two steals and a blocked shot.
• Mark Mitchell collected five rebounds, four assists and a team-best three steals.
• Ryan Young and Sean Stewart came off the Duke bench to grab a team-high six rebounds each.

QUOTES

• “Really proud of these guys and proud of our team. James Madison, you’re playing a team that’s had three losses the whole year and they had a really impressive performance against Wisconsin. And I don’t know if we expected this, but I just thought our guys came out with such a great competitiveness and they were obviously ready to play. Not just ready to play. You have to be ready to compete in these games, and everybody that was on the floor I felt had that. It helps when you have a guy like Jared McCain. He broke the Duke record today for threes 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.” – head coach Jon Scheyer
• “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. For these types of games, you just want to win and I want to do everything I can to win, and tonight if it’s making shots, making 3s, whatever it was, I’m just grateful for the opportunity to go to the Sweet 16.” – freshman guard Jared McCain