How Duke basketball’s backcourt rose to the moment, delivered important win over Baylor

For weeks, Jon Scheyer openly shared the pride and confidence he harbors for Duke’s guards this season.

He believes the group is as good as any team in the country and he’s counting on them to carry the Blue Devils far in his second season leading the team.

Wednesday, when No. 21 Duke played a December game of great importance, that group, though short-handed, produced in a way to validate Scheyer’s feelings.

They hit 3-pointers. They aggressively drove the lane for easy baskets. They defended well against Baylor’s veteran guards, the kind of players who have often given Duke problems.

They kept the offense moving and they fervently protected the ball.

A crowd that packed Madison Square Garden to the rafters roared as Jared McCain, Caleb Foster and Jeremy Roach combined for 51 points, leading the Blue Devils to a 78-70 win over No. 10 Baylor.

Scheyer gave them their verbal flowers in the postgame locker room the Blue Devils borrowed from the New York Knicks for the night.

“I think they’ve shown a lot of physical mental toughness,” Scheyer said later.

They have in particular and the Blue Devils (8-3) have as a whole over the last three weeks.

Losing back-to-back road games to Arkansas and Georgia Tech put the Blue Devils in a bad place. It had been decades since they’d suffered three losses before the middle of December.

Throw into the mix sophomore guard Tyrese Proctor’s sprained ankle that’s kept him out since he was injured against Georgia Tech. He’d played in every game Scheyer had coached for Duke before getting hurt and missing the last three.

Suddenly, that backcourt Scheyer knew could lead the Blue Devils to big things this season wasn’t whole.

Roach, though, wouldn’t let that derail his senior season.

Duke’s practices after the 72-68 loss at Georgia Tech were different and it started with him.

“Early in the season I felt like I kind of set the tone,” Roach said. “I wasn’t leading the right way. I wasn’t doing what I needed to do. So, forget the offense. Forget everything. Just me leading and my presence there, like coach said, has been a big thing.”

Roach played all 40 minutes against Baylor, scoring 18 points with three assists. He only committed one turnover.

Part of Scheyer’s postgame speech was praise for Roach.

“Jeremy’s presence over our team, just what he’s done over the last few weeks,” Scheyer said. “It can be a make or break point of the season and Jeremy’s like, it’s not going down this way. And the whole team responded together.”

McCain and Foster are freshmen learning what it’s like to play for Duke. Every loss is analyzed and the reaction, from Duke’s fans and from those who hate the Blue Devils, can be tough to handle.

They were told about the pressure-cooker lifestyle of playing for a polarizing team. Now they’ve lived it and come out the other side to produce good results.

McCain is averaging 18 points per game during the three-game winning streak the Blue Devils have built. That included his 21 points against Baylor.

Foster scored eight of his 12 points in the second half against the Bears (9-2).

“Jared and Caleb, they never looked rattled,” Scheyer said.

They, along with Roach and from 10 minutes off the bench from Jaylen Blakes, helped Duke collect assists on a healthy 56% of its made shots against Baylor.

Defensively, they caused Baylor to finish with more turnovers (14) than assists (10).

Duke, meanwhile, turned the ball over just eight times. The Blue Devils are one of the best teams in the country at protecting the ball. According to KenPom.com, Duke has turned it over on just 13% of its possessions. That’s No. 3 nationally.

“Credit Duke,” Baylor coach Scott Drew said. “They executed. Eight turnovers is tremendous. I;ll tell you, that’s one thing nobody compliments coach Scheyer enough on with a young team. Being one of the best in the country in taking care of the ball is really an outstanding feat for them.”

That the performance delivered Scheyer’s first win over a top-10 opponent since taking over the Duke program from Mike Krzyzewski didn’t matter to Scheyer as much as what the win meant in the big picture of this season.

Duke’s only previous Quadrant 1 win, in NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) parlance, was a 74-65 decision over Michigan State in Chicago last month. With only one ACC team among the NET’s top 20 entering Wednesday’s play, chances for Duke to get another looked slim.

That’s why, after losses to Arizona, Arkansas and Georgia Tech, beating Baylor will be so pivotal for the Blue Devils when March arrives and the selection committee is assigning them an NCAA tournament seed.

“We went through some stuff together,” Scheyer said. “With those games, more got brought to light. I give these guys for just putting their heads down and working. I thought we were incredibly tough tonight.”