Andy Katz names Jared McCain his Player of the Week following 35-point outburst against Florida State

Duke freshman Jared McCain was named Andy Katz’ Player of the Week after a 35-point game against FSU and a double-double against Wake Forest.

By now, Jared McCain’s scintillating shooting performance in Tallahassee has introduced him to everyone in college basketball.

The true freshman from Sacramento, California, opened up more eyes this weekend after his 35 points helped carry Duke to a win on the road against an always-tough Florida State team coached by Leonard Hamilton.

Duke needed every single point McCain provided. For his efforts, McCain was named ACC Rookie of the Week, and college basketball reporter Andy Katz called McCain his national Player of the Week.

McCain’s week ended with the win and 35-point explosion over FSU, but earlier that week against Wake Forest, McCain also dropped a 17-point double-double while shooting 3/7 from distance.

He averaged a whopping 26 points per game for the week, and his total field goal percentage for the week’s games was 53%, He shot 61% from the 3-point line.

For good measure, McCain averaged seven rebounds a game, too.

 

We’ve discussed how McCain tied a Duke freshmen record held by a legendary one-and-done player, Zion Williamson. Still, McCain is now flirting with a place within the top 10 all-time 3-point shooting seasons by a Duke freshman. He’s tied currently with Austin Rivers at No. 10 with 58 made threes. One more 3-pointer with eight games left would see him officially pass Rivers and firmly move inside the top 10.

With four more makes from deep, he’d pass his head coach, Jon Scheyer, who had 61 in his freshman season at Duke.

With McCain, Duke has found a dynamic long-range threat that could affect how teams gameplan for Duke the rest of the way—playing off that could benefit Duke greatly as they continue to push toward the NCAA Tournament.