Will Three Point Shooting Be Duke’s Downfall?

The question at Duke’s post-game press conference was a bit convoluted, although the thrust was clear.

The issue arose in the wake of the Blue Devils’ ACC Tournament title-game victory over Florida State. The Devils had made 2 of 14 3-pointers, one each by Cam Reddish and Tre Jones, against FSU. In all, they hit a painful 24.6 percent from the bonusphere in three tournament outings.

Par for the course for a squad that was the least accurate on threes of Krzyzewski’s tenure, hitting 30.2 percent on the 2019 season. By far the worst of his tenure.

“There have been games certainly this year where you guys have made 3-pointers,” the questioner began. “But the season numbers, they are what they are. How do you think that has shaped who you guys are as a tournament team going into next week where you play a game like tonight?”

Mike Krzyzewski didn’t quite answer the question, such as it was.

First he said, “We believe that we’re a good offensive team.” Then the coach veered into noting all four freshmen scored in double figures, and that the team committed “not too many turnovers” (13) and had a “very balanced” offense.

“Usually like when Zion was out, RJ had to put up a lot, and he’s put up a lot the whole year,” Krzyzewski continued, somewhat relevantly. Barrett made 30.4 percent of his three attempts, which were second-most on the squad. Against FSU, Barrett tried and missed four 3-pointers.

Before veering into discussion of Tre Jones’ scoring and playmaking, Krzyzewski said on the subject of long-distance dialing: “And then the two of them put up a lot together, and then tonight, though, Cam hit a big three.”

The coach meant Cam Reddish, who was 1 of 5 against Florida State, his made three coming with 1:24 to go to snuff the last FSU rally. On the year entering NCAA play, Reddish was 82 of 251 on 3-pointers, 32.7 percent accuracy.

To gauge the recently-minted champs’ relative prowess, we’ve listed the 3-point efficiency of all ACC Tournament champions during the last decade.

We’ve included threes made as an attempt of all converted field goals; the percent of made field goals overall that were threes; the percent of overall attempts that were threes; and the percentage of a team’s points achieved via 3-pointers.

The ’19 Devils don’t stack up so well, shooting plenty from long-distance without notable point production. Not the worst, but far from the best, especially among champs from Duke.