Jared McCain opens up on the special feeling after great performance in Round of 32

The Duke Blue Devils took care of business in the Round of 32 and beat James Madison 93-55 to move onto the Sweet 16. It was a team effort that was headlined by the play of shooting guard Jared McCain.

After the game, McCain shared the special feeling that he had following his great performance in the Round of 32.

“Yeah, it’s the best feeling in the world when you know the work that you put in is showing up on the court,” Jared McCain said. “Especially in such a big game like this, to go to the Sweet 16.”

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“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.”

Coming into the game, there were plenty of people who thought James Madison had a good chance to upset Duke and make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. However, from very early in the game, the Blue Devils took control of the game and refused to give it up. Jared McCain was a big piece of that, with 30 points in 31 minutes of playing time. He also had five rebounds and an assist.

The next closest Blue Devil on the scoring sheet was Tyrese Proctor, who had 18 points. In total, four different players for Duke scored in double figures.

With the win, Duke moved onto the Sweet 16. There, the Blue Devils are set to take on the Houston Cougars, a one-seed in the NCAA Tournament. Against Houston’s excellent defense, Duke is going to need to have all hands on deck offensively. That includes Jared McCain, who has become incredibly valuable to the team.

Why Duke showed it was a national title contender after first weekend

Duke was incredibly impressive in its first two NCAA Tournament games. Because of that, as James Fletcher explained during an appearance on Andy Staples On3, the Blue Devils proved they’re national title contenders.

“Duke really showed up this weekend. There were questions about them. Plenty of people picking them to get upset in the first week here. To face Vermont then they face James Madison, they kind of avoided Wisconsin in that draw. But man, if you ever wanted to show you that they are a contender, this was a great week for you because they left no doubt against two very lively mid-major teams,” Fletcher said.

“I mean, James Madison pulled the upset against Wisconsin and really led that game in the first round for quite a bit of it. So for Duke to get everyone involved the way that they did, McCain kind of emerging as their go to guard, their best perimeter option has been really big for them because early on I think a lot of people thought that would be Tyrese Proctor. He has not kind of lived up to what people expected this year … But McCain has come in, he can shoot the ball and just an all around really good guard for them, who has been able to put the ball in the basket and really raise their ceiling from what it probably was.”