The opening minutes of Duke’s 76-52 victory over N.C. State Saturday were a veritable dunk-a-palooza. And Mason Plumlee was the star performer.
But beyond his plethora of highlight-reel dunks, Plumlee showed a balanced offensive game for the first time in months, leading Duke to the blowout win. His performance gave Blue Devil fans something to be excited about, even if his increasing use of jump-hook shots aren’t as jaw-dropping as thunderous slams.
“It’s a strong shot,” Plumlee said of that jump-hook he used multiple times en-route to a 16-point, 12-rebound performance. “All the big guys, we work on that with Coach Wojo, and we all like the jump-hooks. We just have to take them in the flow of the game.”
Plumlee’s performance was far from perfect—the sophomore’s struggles from the free-throw line continued with a 2-for-7 performance, and he picked up three fouls in only 25 minutes of play. But after being solely a rebounder the first few weeks of the ACC season, the forward finally rediscovered his offensive game that he showed with stellar games in the CBE Classic all the way back in November.
In that tournament, though, most of Plumlee’s points were due to the playmaking ability of Kyrie Irving. And while Nolan Smith’s own skills were crucial in Plumlee’s outing Saturday, much of his scoring outburst can be attributed to his own one-on-one skills in the post.
Take, for example, those jump-hook shots that he confidently took when he had position down low. Or when, halfway through the first half, he took a rather innocuous looking inbounds pass, saw a lane, and drove baseline for one of his patented two-handed slams.
It all stems from the confidence Plumlee has gained in his past two contests, thanks to an increased focus on his postgame in the offense.
“I felt like I had a good offensive game against Maryland too. I just tried to keep that momentum going, attack the basket,” Plumlee said. “If they send two guys I’m going to find the shooter, if it’s one-on-one I’m going to score. That’s how I’ve always thought about it.”
Irving’s absence has made Plumlee’s reemergence as a scorer all the more important. Since the infamous toe injury the Blue Devils have yet to find a consistent third scoring option, with Ryan Kelly, Seth Curry and Andre Dawkins all taking turns in that important role. But all these players score more from the perimeter than inside, accentuating the recent perception that Duke relies solely on perimeter shooting.
Plumlee, however, is the closest thing on this Blue Devil roster to a true post-player. Now with back-to-back double-doubles, the sophomore has shown the ability to be put together consistently solid games. It’s a positive sign as Duke prepares to face a solid, if shallow, North Carolina front-court Wednesday.
“He played with his strengths during this last month. His scoring will come,” head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “It’s just a process, but when you’re going through that process, don’t forget about your strengths, because he’s been one of the outstanding rebounders in the country.”
While his game continues to evolve into that of a more well-rounded big man, Plumlee hasn’t forgotten that the team relies on him to provide energy and excitement through his athletic ability.
In fact, that’s probably what he enjoys most.
“More than anything when you cause a couple turnovers [that leads to dunks] it gets the crowd going,” Krzyzewski said. “When you get a couple its like, ‘Oh boy!’, it gets the whole team excited. Those plays... took it to another level in the first half.”
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