Jon Scheyer on Jared McCain: 'The stage doesn't bother him'

Jared McCain played all 40 minutes for Duke during its 54-51 victory over Houston in the Sweet 16. In the previous round, he dropped 30 points against James Madison.

Despite being a true freshman, Blue Devils head coach Jon Scheyer said after the Round of 32 win that McCain is built for big-time moments in March. He expanded on those comments after making it to the Elite Eight.

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“The stage doesn’t bother him,” Scheyer said after the Sweet 16 win. “I think that’s a motivating factor for him. When I’ve seen him play at Peach Jam or the City of Palms with his high school team, he’s been at his best, and he just lives for those moments. The thing that Jared did — I mentioned putting him on blue or white — he’s never given us an option. Since he’s got to campus, he said this is what I’m doing. I’m not going to apologize for it.

“The way he has competed has been — that’s what’s so different. The maturity with how he competes has been so refreshing and been great to coach.”

While McCain has scored at a minimum having finished with seven points on 3 of 6 shooting, he did a bit of everything else with six rebounds and four assists. The scoring load was left to fellow guard Jeremy Roach and big man Kyle Filipowski, who combined for 30 of Duke’s 54 points.

This kind of production doesn’t surprise Scheyer, as the social media savvy true freshman was the crown jewel in his 2023 recruiting class, which ranked No. 2 in the country heading into the season.

“I learned very quickly with Jared — you know, we have in our practice the white team is the first group and the blue is the second group,” Scheyer explained. “Anytime I put him in a blue jersey, he would be talking smack, he would be making sure — I think the blue group won every time he went to blue. By the way, when I say talking smack, to me too. He would be running up and down talking to me after making shots. In a positive way, when I say that. He’s just so motivated.”

McCain and the Blue Devils will be back in action against ACC foe NC State on Sunday. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:05 p.m. ET as Duke looks to avenge its conference tournament loss to the Wolfpack. The Final Four await the victor.