When people think of the 2017-18 Duke Blue Devils, they usually start with Marvin Bagley III or maybe the veteran grit of Grayson Allen. But honestly, if you were watching closely that year, Gary Trent Jr Duke stats were the quiet engine that kept that high-octane offense from stalling out. He wasn't the loudest guy on the floor. He didn't have the 40-inch vertical that made highlight reels every night. Yet, he walked into Durham and did something that even the most legendary Duke shooters struggled to do: he broke a J.J. Redick record.
Yeah, you read that right.
In a program defined by legendary marksmen, Gary Trent Jr. carved out a freshman season that was historically elite. Most fans remember him as just another "one-and-done" player, but his impact was much deeper than a single year's residency in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Breaking the J.J. Redick Record
The headline of Gary Trent Jr.’s time at Duke has to be the 97 three-pointers. For years, J.J. Redick’s freshman record of 95 made threes seemed like a mountain too high for any newcomer to climb. Redick is essentially the patron saint of the Duke jumpshot. Then Trent Jr. showed up from Prolific Prep with a stroke so smooth it looked like it was born in a lab.
He didn't just stumble into the record. He earned it through sheer consistency. He hit at least one three-pointer in each of his final 28 games. Think about that for a second. In the chaotic world of college basketball—where shooting slumps are as common as bad officiating—Trent Jr. stayed locked in for months. He shot 40.2% from deep on over six attempts per game. That isn't just "good for a freshman." That is professional-grade efficiency.
Coach Mike Krzyzewski called him the best three-point shooter in the ACC that year. He wasn't just being nice to his player. Trent actually led the conference in three-point percentage (based on NCAA minimums), becoming the first Duke freshman ever to do that.
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A Five-Star Pedigree and the "Blue-Collar" Star
Gary Trent Jr. wasn't some diamond in the rough. He arrived as a five-star recruit, ranked No. 7 overall by some scouts. His dad, Gary Trent Sr., was "The Shaq of the MAC" and a long-time NBA bruiser. You might think a kid with that lineage would be a pampered scorer, but Gary was different.
He was a worker.
While Bagley was gobbling up rebounds and Allen was orchestrating the offense, Trent was the guy doing the dirty work on the perimeter. He started every single one of the 37 games Duke played that season. He averaged nearly 34 minutes per contest, which is a massive workload for a teenager in Coach K’s system.
He also had this weirdly specific "clutch" gene.
In the final five minutes of games or in overtime, Trent Jr. was basically automatic from the free-throw line, hitting 33-of-34. If you fouled him to stop the clock, you were essentially just handing Duke two points. He finished the season shooting 87.6% from the charity stripe.
The Miami Masterclass and Big Games
If you want to see the peak Gary Trent Jr Duke experience, go back and watch the tape of the Miami game on January 15, 2018.
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Duke was down. They looked sluggish. Then Gary decided he wasn't losing. He poured in a career-high 30 points, going 6-of-9 from beyond the arc. It was one of those performances where the rim looks like the size of the Atlantic Ocean. He looked like a veteran who had been playing in the ACC for a decade, not a kid who had been on campus for five months.
But it wasn't just Miami. He had this knack for showing up in the postseason too. He was the team's second-leading scorer across the ACC and NCAA Tournaments, averaging 15.5 points. When the lights got brighter, he didn't shrink. He just kept shooting.
Why NBA Scouts Were Skeptical
So, if he was this good, why did he slide to the second round of the 2018 NBA Draft?
Looking back, it seems crazy that he went 37th overall to the Sacramento Kings (and then traded to Portland). At the time, the knock on Gary was his "lateral quickness." Scouts were worried he couldn't guard NBA-level wings. They saw him as a "3-and-D" guy without the "D."
Also, Duke played a lot of zone defense that year because they had so many freshmen who were still learning the ropes. This made it hard for scouts to see how Gary would handle man-to-man coverage at the next level. They saw a spot-up shooter. They didn't see the two-way beast he would eventually become in Toronto and Milwaukee.
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Honestly, Gary has always been an "overachiever" in that sense. He’s spent his pro career proving those scouting reports wrong, but it all started with that foundational year in Durham.
The Actionable Takeaway for Players and Fans
Watching Gary Trent Jr.’s trajectory from Duke to the NBA provides a pretty clear blueprint for success in the modern game.
- Master one elite skill: Trent didn't try to be a point guard or a post-up threat. He became an elite shooter first. That was his "in."
- Focus on the "clutch" metrics: His free-throw shooting in the final five minutes made him unbenchable.
- Ignore the "ceiling" talk: People said he was too slow for the NBA. He responded by becoming one of the most feared perimeter defenders in the league by his fourth season.
If you’re a young player, study his Duke tape. He didn't hunt for shots. He moved without the ball, hit his open looks, and stayed ready. He’s the perfect example of how to be a star in your role, which is exactly what gets you a $50 million contract down the line.
Gary Trent Jr. might have only spent one year in a Blue Devils jersey, but he left the record books different than he found them. Breaking a Redick record is no small feat—it's a statement. And as we see him continuing to light it up in the NBA in 2026, it's clear that the "freshman shooter" from 2018 was just getting started.
Next Steps for Duke Fans:
To truly understand the 2017-18 season, look at the shot distribution between Trent, Bagley, and Carter Jr. You'll see that while the bigs got the volume, Trent’s gravity on the perimeter is what actually gave them the space to operate. It’s a masterclass in floor spacing.