Duke basketball freshman forward TJ Power arrived in Durham as a five-star prospect at No. 20 overall on the 247Sports 2023 Composite. Thus far, though, he hasn’t cracked the regular rotation. And he may not for another season or two, although there’s no denying his positivity and potential as a versatile wing.
On the other hand, if the 6-foot-9, 215-pound Massachusetts native continues to shoot as lights-out as he did in the ninth-ranked Blue Devils’ 95-66 home win over La Salle on Tuesday night, second-year head coach Jon Scheyer may soon have no choice to give him more than mere mop-up duty in future contests.
His smooth stroke beyond the arc in his playing time across the final six minutes against La Salle was a thing of beauty. Put simply, he assumed the role of waking up the Cameron Crazies late.
He connected on three of his four attempts, all from deep, marking the first field goals of his Blue Devil career.
That performance drew the first “3J Power” shoutout of the season from the Duke basketball social media team in these posted highlights:
For me, TJ, he always has had the green light,” Scheyer explained to the media afterward. “He’ll continue to have the green light.”
In his previous 19 minutes this season between blowout victories over Dartmouth and Bucknell in Cameron Indoor Stadium, Power was 0-for-4 from 3-point land, and his only points were courtesy of his 2-for-2 clip at the charity stripe.
The Blue Devils (4-1) next host Southern Indiana on Friday at 6 p.m. ET in their third and final Blue Devil Challenge matchup.
Chances are the Screaming Eagles (1-5) will be outmatched. So, TJ Power should have an opportunity to keep the fire burning on his shooting hand.
