Duke Basketball: Stats mock R.J. Barrett’s reputation as Mr. Clutch

Based on R.J. Barrett’s last-minute heroics prior to joining the Duke basketball program, many fans expected to witness a modern-day Michael Jordan in clutch moments; to date, though, the freshman has been quite the opposite.

I’ve doubted the high school reputations of many highly rated Blue Devils in the past after watching them for a few months in Duke basketball jerseys. My not buying the hype doesn’t mean I’m not a true fan.

It just means that I’m a human with two working eyeballs and a brain that doesn’t think the best solution is to keep quiet about an obvious issue. Sometimes, these Blue Devils prove my worries right. Other times, they make me eat my words (which I enjoy because that bodes well for Duke).

Listen, I want nothing more than for R.J. Barrett to make me look like a fool — as quickly as possible. As the numbers show right now, though, the freshman guard is miles away from living up to the expectations that I had for him after hearing about all of his clutch performances — for his high school team and Team Canada — prior to his arrival in Durham. Sometimes, numbers lie. But as the numbers increase, so does the likelihood that they are exposing a truth — sometimes one that is tough to swallow.

Drawing from the final five minutes of No. 1 Duke’s five games that have been decided by 11 points or less thus far — adding in the five minutes of the one overtime, this gives a sample of 30 minutes, roughly equivalent to Barrett’s average playing time per game — here’s what we know is true about the 6-foot-7, 205-pound Canadian in the clutch:

• 10 points, two assists, four turnovers, four fouls
• 4-for-20 from the field
• 1-for-8 from beyond the arc
• 1-for-3 from the foul line
• His missed free throw almost cost Duke the Florida State game
• His five missed shots in the final minute did cost Duke the Gonzaga game
• His dribbling around too long gave Duke zero chance in the final 30 seconds of overtime against Syracuse on Monday

Mr. Clutch?

Meanwhile, across these same 30 minutes, fellow freshman Zion Williamson — who most fans agree needs more touches at the end of close games — has attempted six shots and made three (granted, he fouled out with four minutes to play in Duke’s win over Texas Tech on Dec. 20).

Maybe Barrett’s clutch-time woes are due to an increase in competition. Maybe he’s about to turn a corner. Maybe the sample size is still too small.

But right now, based on the numbers and my two working eyeballs, it doesn’t seem as if he helps the team much in the final minutes when an outcome remains in doubt. Not only doesn’t he help, but he appears to actually hurt Duke in such moments (reference above the minimal number of shots from Williamson, who is on pace to set an NCAA record for player efficiency and is shooting 67 percent from the field for the season).

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I know, I know, Barrett is just a freshman. And I’m just a spoiled, loudmouth fan — no denying that. He’s also about halfway through his time at Duke, though, and he’s mere months away from being a multi-millionaire in the NBA. If he’s not ready to handle the criticism, he may want to choose another line of work; I can assure you, whether he becomes one of the game’s all-time greatest or one of the game’s all-time busts, my criticism in this article won’t be close to the harshest that he will hear during his professional career.

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So in order to prepare him for that criticism, here’s the harshest way I can express how I see his current end-of-game play: In my mind, Barrett is stealing opportunities from Williamson and the rest of the Blue Devils. Without such theft at the end of the Gonzaga game and his refusal to do much of anything but dribble around aimlessly against Syracuse, Duke would possibly be sitting at 16-0 rather than 14-2. Also, his total number of shots for the season (313) should not be nearly 60 percent greater than the Blue Devil with the next most (Williamson with 198).

That being said, without Barrett at all on this team, the Blue Devils may have several more losses. He is a fantastic scorer, rebounder, and distributor — outside of the end of games, of course. His season stats certainly back that up: averaging 23.4 points, 6.9 boards, and 4.1 assists.

And I yearn for him to prove this article grossly incorrect by correcting his clutch-time stats. I will be the first to sing his praises — because I am still a fan of his — if he comes up clutch against undefeated Virginia in Cameron Indoor Stadium on Saturday at 6 p.m. (on ESPN).

ALSO READ: Three keys for Duke to derail undefeated Virginia

However, if you ask me or the stats, the most clutch moves R.J. Barrett can make in the final minutes are passes to Zion Williamson. No doubt — at least not in my eyes or mind — about that.