Jon Scheyer considers how Jared McCain responded to boos from opposing fans

Jared McCain led the way in Duke’s 76-67 win over Florida State Saturday. Head coach Jon Scheyer expected boos for one of his star players from the Seminole players.

Well, that’s what he received. But it didn’t rattle the guard at all, who logged 39 minutes.

Scheyer wasn’t surprised in the least regarding McCain’s performance.

“To be honest, Jared looked very motivated from the start for me,” Scheyer said. “But it’s not going to slow him down. You know, I can tell you that like he’s he’s wired for this. He’s wired to wear a Duke uniform, he’s wired. Just wired for this. It’s because of the way it works. He just works all the time. He says confident, has such belief in himself. And, you know, it’s, I’m not surprised, but I don’t know how the boos affected him. Or not, but I know it wasn’t a negative.”

McCain finished the game with 35 points, four rebounds and one assist. The next leading scorer for the Blue Devils was Jeremy Roach, who had 17 points.

“I was thinking, ‘how can we get him the ball more,’” Scheyer said. “Clearly, he had it going. You could just see it. It’s hard, because with [Florida State], they switch everything. It’s not like you can call plays all the time. We got stuck a little bit, we got a little stagnant, playing too much one-on-one. But to their credit, that’s what they make you do.”

But, the head coach also acknowledged McCain did some freelancing and managed to create opportunities.

“Jared manufactured a lot. There’s a couple calls in there maybe, but for the most part it’s just literally saying, ‘get the ball and go do what you’re doing.’. And he did. Not only did he have 35 but it was in critical moments too. The beginning of the game; I didn’t think we came out with the right defensive mentality at first and he steadied us with his scoring.

“And then to close the half, he had a couple big three’s as well. That moment in the second half, he hits the two free throws and the three, I don’t know what that stretched the lead to but that was a critical moment.”

Now at 20-5 and ranked No. 9 in the country, Duke returns to the floor Wednesday. McCain will likely be counted again for a big game as the Blue Devils travel to take on the Miami Hurricanes.