WASHINGTON—Cam Reddish doesn't get the same attention or accolades as superstar classmates Zion Williamson and R.J. Barrett. He's a distant third in total scoring for the Blue Devils this season, behind those two first-team All-ACC selections.
But when Duke needs a bucket in a critical situation, it has looked to Reddish several times this season, and the freshman has consistently delivered.
Reddish's 3-pointer with less than two minutes left in last Sunday's Round of 32 matchup against Central Florida to trim a four-point deficit to one at 74-73 helped keep the Blue Devils' season alive. After the Knights botched an alley-oop that would have come close to putting the nail in the coffin, Reddish received a pass from point guard Tre Jones in transition and confidently dribbled into his shot from the top of the key.
It was the most significant installment in a growing list of clutch shots for the 6-foot-8 forward.
"That’s why we call him Killer Cam, and we don’t just give nicknames like that for no reason," Williamson said after the game. "I mean, that shot was big. He stepped into it, and from the second it left his hand, I didn’t even crash the board, I knew it was going in."
It's true—the replay shows Duke's leading rebounder simply admiring Reddish's shot from the left wing on the 3-point line instead of attacking the glass, which seems like an overconfident position to take for a player who misses twice as many triples as he makes. Reddish is just a 33.3 percent 3-point shooter this year, no better than Williamson and not much better than Barrett, but Williamson knew from experience that number goes out the window in crunch time.
In the last five minutes of games within five points this year, Reddish is 6-of-11 beyond the arc, knocking down key shots against Louisville, Florida State and Texas Tech during the regular season.
"If you keep bringing cumulative [results] with you into the moment, you're not very smart. Good or bad, you've got to get rid of it," head coach Mike Krzyzewski said in his press conference Thursday before the Blue Devils' Sweet 16 game against Virginia Tech. "You all get involved with so many stats and whatever, but you have to be who you are in the moment you're in.... He stays confident."
Whether the "clutch gene" is real or not, Reddish's first example of it came in December against the Red Raiders, when he knocked down a triple to double Duke's 60-57 lead with less than four minutes left. Texas Tech didn't pull within one possession the rest of the game, but that shot was overshadowed by two of the defining moments of Duke's season in ACC play.
First, the Seminoles left Reddish wide-open on the wing for a last-second game-winner that gave the Blue Devils a 80-78 road victory Jan. 12.
Then, Reddish stepped into a between-the-legs bounce pass from Barrett to drill a game-tying 3-pointer in the final two minutes of Duke's win against the Cardinals. That was the last of four triples Reddish made during a memorable comeback from a 23-point deficit in less than 10 minutes at Louisville, and he also drew a foul and sank a pair of go-ahead free throws on the Blue Devils' last possession of the game.
"I would say my focus and our will to win really. We all just want to win so badly," Reddish said when asked why his shot gets better in pressure-packed moments. "We all look forward to taking that shot and just being focused, being engaged and being ready."
One of the few times Reddish has missed a clutch shot was against Friday's opponent, the Hokies. During Duke's loss at Virginia Tech a month ago while Williamson was sidelined by a knee sprain, Reddish couldn't convert a potential game-tying 3-pointer with a minute left. But if that chance comes up again with Duke's season on the line against the Hokies, he won't be afraid to fire away.
"I've learned to shoot the ball a ton better since I've gotten here," Reddish said. "In high school, I was dribbling a lot more and going to the basket and stuff like that. This year I've taken a lot more shots, so basically I'm just making sure I shoot the same way every time, holding my follow through and shooting the same shot, and that was key for me."
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