Jayson Tatum
The statline:
Wednesday vs. No. 14 Virginia: 28 points on 8-of-12 shooting, including 6-of-7 from 3-point range, eight rebounds, one steal and one block in 36 minutes
Saturday vs. Wake Forest: 19 points on 6-of-11 shooting, seven rebounds and two assists in 35 minutes
The good: Tatum has proved that he can take over for the Blue Devils when needed several times during their current seven-game winning streak. Less than a week after a 19-point second-half performance against North Carolina, the 6-foot-8 freshman scored a career-high 28 points to go along with eight rebounds in another huge ACC battle at Virginia. Tatum's deep triples on back-to-back possessions put the nail in the coffin, stretching a four-point lead to 10 in the closing minutes.
He was also the team's second-highest scorer Saturday against Wake Forest with an efficient 19 points in a contest that went down to the wire.
Tatum has failed to record double-digit points for the Blue Devils just twice this season and, along with sophomore Luke Kennard and junior Grayson Allen, is one of the weapons head coach Mike Krzyzewski has come to trust with the ball in close games. He has also established himself as an effective rebounder during his time playing at power forward.
The bad: Tatum thrives as a midrange isolation scorer, which can disrupt Duke's ball movement, but he has had minimal trouble adjusting as an off-ball offensive option, with many of his shots last week coming off catch-and-shoot three-pointers.
The freshman forward also struggles as a distributor, recording just two assists in the past two games combined. Tatum’s role is primarily as a scorer and a capable defender and defensive rebounder, as other facets of the game are taken care of by the extensive talent around him.
The bottom line: Tatum is living up to the hype that surrounded him as recruit out of high school and is thriving in a similar role that Brandon Ingram and Justise Winslow were asked to play for the Blue Devils in recent years. The St. Louis native has established himself as a dynamic scorer in Duke’s offense and has demonstrated the capability to take over a game. When his shot is clicking like it was at Virginia Wednesday night, he is virtually impossible to defend.
Honorable mention: Kennard has been far and away Duke’s most consistent player this season and leads the team in scoring with 20.0 points per game. He is also a good rebounder for a guard with 5.1 per game and a capable distributor with 2.6 assists per game.
The 6-foot-6 guard has showed no signs of slowing down as the regular season nears its end. Despite a career game from Tatum Wednesday, Kennard still scored a quiet 16 points as the Blue Devils' only other player with more than five points, and he led the team with 23 Saturday to help Duke prevail in a 99-94 shootout.
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