Duke Basketball: Takeaways from Senior Night victory over North Carolina

2. Tre Jones wins the battle vs. Cole Anthony

North Carolina’s star and likely NBA-bound point guard Cole Anthony returned from injury this season because he wanted a chance to finish out the year with his team, playing in big games like Saturday’s. Anthony spoke confidently pregame, stating that he and his Tar Heel teammates weren’t afraid of anyone. And while that may have been the case, Anthony has not had much success against the man known as Tre “Stones” this season.

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On Saturday Jones made Anthony—who finished 4-for-14 from the field—work hard for every field goal attempt. Jones racked up a steal and two blocks against North Carolina and only committed two personal fouls in 39 minutes of action. But as per usual, Jones’ impact was by no means limited just to the defensive end of the floor. Saturday represented yet another game in which Jones’ improved shooting helped lead Duke basketball to victory.

Jones was second on Duke in shot attempts (13) and knocked down 3-of-7 shots (42.8%) from 3-point range. But perhaps most impressive was Jones’ 10-for-10 shooting from the free throw line. He improved his free throw shooting from 75.8%  to 77.1% this season on a much, much higher volume of attempts. Jones’ excellent two-way play was big on Saturday night, especially as the Tar Heels made their late push. We didn’t even get to his playmaking, which was nothing short of excellent. Jones’ collected 11 assists with only two turnovers.

Tre Jones is playing some of his best basketball of the season in the month of March and the Blue Devils will likely go as far as Jones and Vernon Carey Jr. can carry them.