Behind the big thriving talent on Duke’s roster is a family legacy and competitive spirit. Guard Jared McCain makes no bones about his background making him a college superstar today. His performance in the regular season has turned heads earning him a spot on the ACC All-Freshman team. McCain has contributed significantly towards Duke’s success with his ability to drop a scoring game, posing a strong defense and high basketball IQ.

All these traits make him an invaluable asset to the team. With March Madness running in full swing, the Blue Devils are knocking down their opponents one by one. Now that McCain is preparing for the upcoming battle in Elite 8, let’s learn a little bit about who’s behind this trailblazing player.

Jared McCain’s parents

Born in Sacramento, California, to Jina and Lance McCain, Jared grew up in Corona alongside his older brother Jayce. Jared’s father Lance McCain works at Southwest Airlines as a flight attendant. Lance pursued a Bachelor’s degree from Texas Tech University. Moreover, Lance too was a college basketball player. He played at Midland College with Spud Webb, who later was selected by the NBA team Detroit Pistons in the 1985 NBA draft.

On the other hand, Jared’s mother Jina is a former track and field athlete. She pursued her graduation from Sacramento State in California. Before her time at Sacramento State, Jina displayed her athletic resilience while she was attending Hiram W. Johnson High School. There she performed with sheer excellence, however, she didn’t pursue her athletic career after college.

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Today, Jina has a rather luxurious job of looking after Jared’s online apparel store, which goes by the name – Vintage Brand. In addition, she is quite active on social platforms like X and Facebook. Unfortunately, in July 2021, Jina experienced a digital setback as she fell prey to a cybercrime on her Facebook account. However, after a month-long quest, her account was retrieved.

Joining Zion Williamson and Kyrie Irving, Duke Star Freshman Jared McCain Claims 2 Records in March Madness Clash

The older McCain

Jared’s older brother, Jayce too is a college basketball athlete. He is currently attending California State University. Simply put, he is the point guard of the Cal State San Marcos. Jared has always maintained a competitive spirit with Jayce at home since childhood. As a kid, Jared kept Jayce on a higher pedestal as he always desired to play for Jayce’s team.

Jayce is Jared’s mentor and role model. As a result, his influence is deep-rooted in Jared’s quest for excellence. As brothers and as athletes, they both share their deep love for the game. In their growing years, they both played basketball in a very competitive way, however, Jayce being the older one, had the upper hand in beating Jared. “We played one-on-one nonstop. I continuously beat him like I do now,” Jayce recalls those days.

Jayce’s approach towards Jared’s development as a player used to be intense. In other words, Jayce’s tough love turned Jared into a competitive ‘dog’ on the court. However, Jayce as an athlete himself has faced many issues with his health during his time in high school. As a result, these issues have prevented him from pursuing a professional career in basketball.

Notably, his time at California State University was quite eventful as he received several accolades including All-CCAA first team and CCAA All-Tournament Team in 2021-22 (his sophomore season), along with All-CCAA second team and CSUSM Men’s Basketball Student-Athlete of the Year in the 2022-23 (his junior season).

As a junior, he started 31 games and tallied a total average of 32.8 points per game. He led his team while averaging 9.5 points, along with 3.7 assists and 1.5 steals per game. Moreover, he shot 48.3% from the field, 40.8% beyond the arc, and 77.6% from the foul line. He broke the program records, playing (84) games, starting (75) and taking part in (2714) minutes.

As a sophomore, Jayce started 25 games and became the team’s third-leading scorer with 12.5 points per game and third-leading rebounder with 4.5 rebounds per match. He also led his team in assists (98) and steals (41). Furthermore, he ranked 19th in the United States for both having the best assist-turnover ratio at 2.72 and a free throw percentage of 88.7% (2nd in program history).

He scored his career-high 30-point game against Cal State East Bay and registered his first career double-double with 10 points, and 10 rebounds against Cal Poly Pomona while scoring a double-digit score in 18 games.

Undoubtedly, the basketball gene runs profoundly in this family, with Jared on the frontline to be running for this year’s national title.