Duke freshman has his share of shooting woes in the new year

By BRYAN STRICKLAND

bstrickland@heraldsun.com; 419-6671

DURHAM -- Duke freshman Andre Dawkins waited in the left corner, and when the Blue Devils swung the ball around and teammate Nolan Smith spotted him, Smith delivered a pass and Dawkins delivered with a 3-pointer.

Dawkins' shot in the first half of Wednesday night's 70-56 victory over Florida State looked like so many others he had hit over the years, with one notable difference: Dawkins hadn't hit one this year.

"It was kind of like, 'Finally,' " Dawkins said. "I hadn't hit a 3 in 2010."

Three-pointers were commonplace for Dawkins in 2009. After he hit one in a New Year's Eve blowout of Penn, Dawkins entered 2010 and the ACC schedule ranked fourth in the conference in 3-point shooting at 47.3 percent.

But after making more than two 3-pointers per game on average in 2009, Dawkins has barely attempted one 3-pointer on average in 2010. He had missed all eight of his attempts in January before Wednesday's connection, and his playing time had dwindled along with his shooting touch, with Dawkins getting the first "DNP" of his short career last weekend at Clemson.

Dawkins easily could blame dire circumstances off the court for what has happened on the court. On Dec. 5, his older sister, Lacey, died in an automobile accident in transit from Ohio to watch the Blue Devils play St. John's later that day.

Dawkins, however, refuses to do that.

"I don't want to use that as a crutch or anything like that. I'm here to play basketball," Dawkins said. "I just think I've got to work harder. I think I stopped putting in the extra work that I was doing before.

"I've started to get back to doing that, and it's starting to pay off. I've just got play hard, come out with a lot of energy and show that I really want to be out there."

In the wake of such tragedy, it would be easy to understand if Dawkins didn't always feel like putting in extra work, if he didn't always feel like he truly wanted to be out there.

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski believes the personal pain that Dawkins has endured has had an impact, but he also chalks it up to the growing pains that any freshman faces regardless of circumstances.

"He's a freshman. He's 18," Krzyzewski said. "We've had a number of kids through the years who during their freshman year just aren't consistent. There aren't many freshmen who are consistent, and then if you throw in his age and this thing that happened ...

"He's a very, very young freshman who went through a very difficult situation. You just add all that up. You can't break it up percentage-wise or whatever. I expect stuff like that to happen. Mason [Plumlee] and Ryan [Kelly] have their own adjustments, and they haven't had a setback like that, plus they're older than Andre."

Just seven months ago, Dawkins was enjoying what he thought would be the summer break before his senior year at Atlantic Shores Christian School in Chesapeake, Va.

That was before former Duke guard Elliot Williams dealt with off-the-court difficulties of his own in the form of a serious illness facing his mother that prompted Williams to transfer to Memphis to be close to home.

Soon after, Dawkins decided to graduate a year early to help out Duke's suddenly thin perimeter. He played beyond his years early in the season, and his teammates believe he can return to that form.

"Especially as a freshman, you're going to go through some stretches where you might lose a little confidence," senior Jon Scheyer said. "Andre is a great player, a great shooter, and we just keep telling him, 'Be ready.' "

Dawkins certainly was ready on his 3-pointer against FSU, poised to take the pass and poised as he quickly rise off the court with confidence.

He'll get his next shot Saturday (1 p.m. WRAL), when the eighth-ranked Blue Devils visit No. 7 Georgetown.

"I'm a shooter, and all we need is to see it go in one time," Dawkins said. "Hopefully that will get me going."