SOUTH BEND, Ind.—Nobody saw the best game of Jayson Tatum’s career coming Monday.
The talented freshman took a lot of criticism during No. 21 Duke’s recent slide for his poor shot selection and lack of energy on defense. Even in the Blue Devils’ win against Wake Forest Saturday, Tatum scored just eight points and fouled out in 21 minutes of play before watching all of Duke’s dramatic comeback from the bench.
But he was one of the primary reasons the Blue Devils needed no such last-minute heroics to win at No. 20 Notre Dame.
Tatum set the tone for a strong defensive performance with an emphatic block of point guard Matt Farrell’s driving layup just more than three minutes into the game, and he hustled for loose balls all night, grabbing 14 rebounds in his first double-digit game on the glass. His effort translated into an efficient night with 19 points on 8-of-14 shooting, with most of his buckets coming on strong drives to the rim.
“His energy on the defensive end led to him being terrific on the offensive end,” Duke interim head coach Jeff Capel said. “Jayson is a very, very talented player, and he’s learning how to become a really good player and has the potential to become a great player.”
Tatum is the first regular contributor for Duke with both a block percentage and a steal percentage—which measure the percentage of defensive possessions a player gets a block or a steal on while he is on the court—of higher than 3.0 percent since Sports Reference started tracking those statistics in the 2009-10 season. The St. Louis native has used his length to contest shots well and jump into passing lanes all season, but Monday, he was finally able to do it while staying on the court.
On a night when most of Duke’s team struggled with foul trouble, Tatum was not whistled for his first until his 25th minute on the court almost midway through the second half. Although the 6-foot-8 forward finished with four fouls, with the Fighting Irish attacking the basket relentlessly down the stretch and his teammates forced to help without fouling, he still played 37 minutes.
“[Defense] was a big focus,” Tatum said. “We were just trying to be a well-rounded team tonight and I think it showed.”
Tatum and the Blue Devils’ efforts held Notre Dame to just 25 points in the first half—its lowest halftime total of the season. Instead of faltering in the closing minutes of the half like Duke did in its last three games against Miami, N.C. State and Wake Forest, it held the Fighting Irish scoreless for the last 3:41 before the break and scored the last seven points of the period to open up a 12-point lead.
Notre Dame shot just 2-of-10 from 3-point range in the first half, as senior sharpshooter Steve Vasturia had to force several contested shots and finished the night with just seven points on 1-of-9 shooting.
“We didn’t want to give up straight-line drives, and we didn’t want to over-help when they did drive, because they’re so dangerous because of how they shoot the basketball,” Capel said. “We did a really good job of that.”
Defense became a challenge to start the second half, when Notre Dame switched to a smaller lineup and made 15 of its first 20 shots to trim the Blue Devil lead to one at one point with 6:24 left in the game. But once again, Duke clamped down on defense when it mattered most and held the Fighting Irish without a made field goal for the next five minutes.
The Blue Devils also controlled the glass in the second half to make sure they did not give up any second chances. Tatum’s 14 boards propelled Duke to a 38-26 rebounding advantage, and classmate Harry Giles also grabbed all five of his rebounds after the break, making the most of his time on the court after Amile Jefferson fouled out to seal the win.
Notre Dame only had four second-chance points all day, with all of them coming in the first half.
“It really started with our defense in the second half,” junior Grayson Allen said. “We knew a team like them, they’re going to make some shots, so it was just staying with it and limiting them to one shot.”
The final box score will show that the Fighting Irish still managed 74 points and 49 in the second half, and the Blue Devil defense did loosen up for a bit to let them back into the game. But Duke played as close to a 40-minute game defensively as it has in several weeks, fueled by its lone freshman starter Monday night, and the crucial road win should give Tatum and the Blue Devils confidence heading into the second half of the conference schedule.
“We really locked in.... We can be a really good team when we get the stops that we did, especially in the first half,” sophomore Luke Kennard said. “We’re becoming the team we want to be, the team we’ve been working to be.”
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