Through 20 minutes of play, freshman Jayson Tatum had shown all the signs of a freshman struggling with the intensity of the Tobacco Road rivalry.
Dared to shoot from the perimeter, Tatum looked hesitant, forcing up tough shots on occasion and even getting a brief talk from head coach Mike Krzyzewski after missing a defensive assignment. It all added up to a scoreless first half in which the St. Louis native seemed nonexistent at times.
“Me, Matt and Amile were all on him at halftime and coach was on him at halftime,” junior Grayson Allen said. “It’s plain and simple, we need him. He knows that, so he did a good job of responding.”
Tatum’s answer out of the locker room was a 19-point second half, kick-started by a posterizing dunk on senior Kennedy Meeks that will likely haunt the Tar Heel big man for weeks to come.
After notching his first field goal of the game with the highlight-reel finish, the freshman followed it up with aggressive drives to the basket for the remainder of the contest as Duke came away with an 86-78 victory. All 19 of his points came after halftime.
“The coaches were challenging me to attack the rim strong,” Tatum said. “I got my opportunity and I fed off that. I wasn’t playing how I needed to be playing and Coach challenged me to play with more emotion.... If I just have fun and we just have fun, the rest will take care of itself.”
The extra fire was evident as Tatum pumped his jersey and encouraged the Crazies to get loud in the second half, even after it looked like Duke was teetering with North Carolina on a 15-3 run. With Allen checking out of the game at the 8:37 mark with four personal fouls, Tatum helped the Blue Devils keep the game at arm’s length until their star guard returned.
After strong first halves by Luke Kennard and Allen helped pull the attention away from Tatum, the freshman’s takeover came with a mentality predicated on taking advantage of mismatches and refusing to settle for perimeter jumpers.
Facing the slower Luke Maye or even the smaller Joel Berry II at times off of switches, Tatum put his head down and got to the basket at will, placing even more pressure on a North Carolina defense ill-equipped to stop him. Tatum’s relentlessness earned him a game-high eight free-throws and gave the Blue Devils a go-to option it needed on offense.
“We thought that he was going to have a good matchup out there on the perimeter,” Allen said. “Especially with his height, quickness and skill level, he really has a good matchup every game. We just want to keep kicking it to him and feeding him to have him make a play.”
At 6-foot-8, the freshman possesses the unique combination of size and quickness to make him one of the most versatile players in the nation. Although Tatum’s perimeter jump shot has lagged well behind what many expected, the forward’s ability to attack at the No. 4 spot in Duke’s small-ball lineup has helped the Blue Devils space the floor and it did so again Thursday.
Lost in Tatum’s late explosion was the fact that the St. Louis native finished as the game’s leading rebounder against a North Carolina team that entered the game as the top-ranked team nationally in rebounding margin. After some questioned Duke’s ability to stay small against an imposing Tar Heel front line, Tatum once again proved to be the jack-of-all-trades, capable of adjusting well to any situation at hand.
“The team might need you to bring something different depending on how the game is going and who we’re playing,” Tatum said. “One day, you might have to be a lockdown defender or get guys involved, get steals or something like that”
Although his stats haven’t jumped off the page, perhaps the most positive sign for Tatum in Duke’s recent four-game winning streak has been his mental toughness.
Despite being hampered by foul trouble in a tight win against Wake Forest, the freshman bounced back with his first career double-double in a win against Notre Dame. After taking just seven shots against Pittsburgh, Tatum stepped to the forefront, even if it took a half and what Matt Jones called “young men” talk to get it done.
Whether it’s becoming accustomed to the pressure that comes with being a top recruit and likely one-and-done at Duke or the fact that the Blue Devils are finally whole, Tatum looked more comfortable on the floor with his teammates than he has all season.
Back in the locker room, the comfort was even more evident as his teammates joked about his newfound fame as reporters crowded around the star of the night.
“He’s a SportsCenter boy tonight,” Kennard said. “He’s going to learn and continue to get better. That’s what he wants to do—that’s why he came here.”
Although the dunk on Meeks may be what Tatum will be remembered for when his Duke career is all set and done, the forward’s up-and-down season looks like its on an upswing once again.
After fumbling away Duke’s last opportunity for a game-tying or winning basket against N.C. State, the freshman was glum following the most disappointing moment of his young college career.
Almost two weeks later, Tatum exuded a wide grin as he stood at the middle of the locker room, knowing the Blue Devils are peaking and playing the way many expected them to before the season started.
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