Duke basketball: Mark Williams in reach of Marvin Bagley III record

In terms of dunk quantity, Mark Williams is nearing Duke basketball greats.

Currently, Marvin Bagley III’s 98 dunks as a 2017-18 Duke basketball one-and-done stand as the most in a season from any Blue Devil in history.

Mason Plumlee (87 dunks in 2012-13) and Zion Williamson (72 in 2018-19) are No. 2 and 3 on that list.

Now, as the official Twitter account for Duke stats noted on Sunday, sophomore Mark Williams sits at No. 4 with 68 slams thus far for the No. 9 Duke Blue Devils (23-4, 13-3 ACC). That includes, of course, one of the game-winning variety against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons on Tuesday night:

Following his 10-point, six-rebound effort in Saturday evening’s 88-70 home victory over the Florida State Seminoles, Williams now has four more dunks than Jahlil Okafor (No. 5 on the list) tallied for the 2014-15 national champs.

Should the Blue Devils advance to the title bouts of both the ACC Tournament and Big Dance, Williams could see as many as 13 games to match or break Bagley’s record. Doing the math, the 7-foot-1, 245-pound center needs 30 more dunks to catch him, equating to a bit more than two per game — roughly his average his season — if Duke maxes out its outings.

Speaking to Williams’ durability, he is one of only three Blue Devils to start every Duke game this season, with the other two being Paolo Banchero and Wendell Moore.

An ongoing streak from Duke basketball giant Mark Williams

Mark Williams, who is likely to bolt for the pros early as a projected 2022 first-round draft pick, is enjoying by far his most consistent stretch as a Blue Devil.

After totaling double-digit points in five consecutive contests and 12 of the past 15, Williams is averaging a career-high 10.6 points to go along with 6.8 rebounds and 2.9 blocks in 22.0 minutes per game. He’s doing that as the only NCAA player shooting better than 70 percent from both the field and charity stripe.

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