Duke basketball dominates: Blue Devils rout underdog James Madison in NCAA Tournament

When Jared McCain arrived in Brooklyn on Wednesday, his fingernails were unpainted, which is not his preferred style.

The Duke guard chose to paint them himself, using blue on the right hand and white on the left.

He should have been more creative because on Sunday, his right hand delivered pure fire that propelled the No. 11 Blue Devils to the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16.

McCain used that right hand to make his first six 3-point attempts in the first half, drilling a school record eight in the game while scoring 30 points to lead the No 4 seed Blue Devils over No. 12 seed James Madison, 93-55, in an NCAA Tournament South Region second-round game at Barclays Center.

Having advanced one round further than they did in last year’s NCAA Tournament, the Blue Devils (26-8) head to the regional semifinals to play either top-seeded Houston or No. 9 seed Texas A&M on Friday night in Dallas.

They have their flamboyant, confident freshman guard to thank. McCain broke the Duke record for most 3-pointers made in an NCAA Tournament game, surpassing the seven Quinn Cook made in 2014 against Mercer.

Duke’s first basket was a McCain 3-pointer, a shot that put the Blue Devils in front for good just 11 seconds into play. McCain added two more shortly thereafter to give Duke a 15-5 lead that had James Madison (32-4) reeling.

McCain was just getting started, though, and the Blue Devils never let up. His 3-pointer with 11:49 left in the first half gave Duke a 24-9 lead. When he hit his fifth consecutive 3-pointer, with 7:10 to play in the half, Duke held a 31-15 lead on the way to a commanding 47-25 halftime advantage.

The performance was of reminiscent of McCain’s 35-point outburst when the Blue Devils beat Florida State, 76-67, in Tallahassee, Florida, on Feb. 17. McCain hit 8 of 11 3-pointers that day and is a 39.7% 3-point shooter for the season.

As a team, Duke shot 52.4% overall while making 14 of 28 3-pointers to overwhelm the Dukes. It’s the most 3-pointers the Blue Devils have made in a game this season.

Duke only turned the ball over six times against a James Madison defense that caused Wisconsin to commit 19 turnovers while beating the No. 5 seed Badgers, 72-61, on Friday night.

The Blue Devils vowed they would be ready to handle that pressure and planned to impose their will early to send a message to the underdog Dukes. That’s exactly what happened, thanks to McCain and Duke’s other hot-shooting guards.

Sophomore Tyrese Proctor scored 18 points, making four 3-pointers during a 7 of 15 shooting day while collecting five assists. Senior Jeremy Roach added 15 points, hitting 5 of 8 shots overall with one 3-pointer and leading the Blue Devils with six assists.

On the interior, 7-foot sophomore Kyle Filipowski scored 14 points while grabbing five rebounds and handing out four assists.