**BREAKING: ACC Player of the Week Watch – Duke’s Jeremy Roach Goes Nuclear in Maui**
**By Grok Sports Desk**
*November 24, 2025 – 11:47 p.m. ET*
LAHAINA, Maui – The ballots haven’t opened yet, but the campaign is already over. Duke senior guard Jeremy Roach just submitted the most devastating three-game stretch of any player in college basketball this November, and the ACC Player of the Week trophy might as well have his name engraved on it before sunrise.
In the last 72 hours at the Maui Jim Maui Invitational, Roach turned the Lahaina Civic Center into his personal shooting gallery, averaging 26.0 points, 6.3 assists, 4.7 rebounds, and 2.7 steals while shooting 61% from the field, 58% from three (18-of-31), and 94% from the line across wins over then-No. 6 Auburn, No. 14 Arkansas, and No. 9 Baylor. Duke (6-0) leaves the islands with the championship hardware, a fresh No. 1 ranking in tomorrow’s AP poll, and a 30-year-old veteran masquerading as a fifth-year senior who just reminded everyone why he came back.
Roach saved his masterpiece for the title game Monday night. Facing a Baylor squad that had harassed guards all season with length and chaos, Roach dropped a career-high 35 points on 12-of-17 shooting (7-of-10 from three), handed out eight assists against one turnover, and sealed the 84-78 victory with a cold-blooded step-back triple over 7-foot freshman VJ Edgecombe with 38 seconds left. When the buzzer sounded, Roach pointed to the “ROACH” on the back of his jersey, spun the ball on his finger like Harlem Globetrotter nostalgia, and let 10,000 fans in Hawaiian shirts scream themselves hoarse.
“He’s playing like the best player in America right now,” Duke head coach Jon Scheyer said postgame, shaking his head. “Not the best guard. The best player. Period.”
The numbers from Maui are video-game absurd:
– Championship game: 35 pts, 8 ast, 7 3PM, 0 TO
– Semifinal vs Arkansas: 24 pts, 7 ast, 6 reb, 4 stl
– Opener vs Auburn: 19 pts, 6 ast, 5 3PM in a 19-point comeback
Combined: 78 points on 43 shots, 18-of-31 from three, 21 assists to 4 turnovers, +66 in 109 minutes.
For context, only two players in the 41-year history of the Maui Invitational have ever scored 35+ in the final: Roach and some guy named Steph Curry.
But the stat sheet only tells half the story. Roach, listed at a generous 6-2, spent the entire tournament hunting mismatches against taller wings and bigger point guards, burying pull-ups over 6-8 Norchad Omier, torching Arkansas’ switching scheme with side-step threes, and dissecting Baylor’s vaunted zone with laser skip passes that found Cooper Flagg cutting baseline for dunks. He played all 40 minutes Monday night and never once looked for a sub.
This is the same Jeremy Roach who entered the 2024-25 season with question marks swirling. After transferring back to Duke from Washington in a stunning May reversal, detractors called him a “system guard” who benefited from playing alongside Kyle Filipowski and Jared McCain. Others wondered if the 23-year-old (he’ll turn 24 on Thursday) was sacrificing NBA draft stock for one last ride in Durham. Three games in Maui just burned that narrative to the ground.
“People forgot,” Roach said in the champion’s press conference, championship hat tilted and net around his neck. “I started on a Final Four team as a freshman. I hit the shot to beat Michigan State in ’22. I’ve been doing this. I just needed the keys again.”
He’s got them now. With Tyrese Proctor still working back from a minor ankle injury and freshman phenom Kon Knueppel adjusting to the speed of college ball, Scheyer has handed Roach the offense. The results are historic. Over the last four games (including the secretive closed scrimmage numbers that leaked on X), Roach is averaging 24.8 points and 7.0 assists while turning it over less than once per contest. His 58.3% from three in Maui is the highest single-tournament mark for any Duke player in the KenPom era (minimum 25 attempts).
The ACC’s other stars took notice in real time. UNC’s Elliot Cadeau texted mid-game: “Bro is COOKING 🔥.” Miami’s Nijel Pack posted the goat emoji under Roach’s highlights. Even Virginia’s Reece Beekman, never one for hyperbole, wrote on X: “That man is different.”
NBA scouts in attendance were seen rewriting boards on the spot. One Western Conference exec told me postgame: “He just moved into the late-first conversation. Vision, toughness, shot-making at his size? That’s premium role-player money right now, maybe more if he keeps this up.”
The quiet part no one says out loud: Roach’s explosion has also flipped the Duke-UNC freshman narrative. While Caleb Wilson is rightly stealing headlines in Chapel Hill with monster double-doubles, Roach just outdueled three top-15 teams in 72 hours and walked away with Maui MVP while Flagg (19.0 ppg, 8.0 rpg in Maui) played the perfect sidekick. When the two programs meet in Durham on February 1 and Chapel Hill on March 8, the best-player-on-the-floor debate might not be as clear-cut as Vegas oddsmakers assumed in October.
Roach’s week isn’t done. Duke returns to Durham for Thanksgiving, then hosts No. 18 Indiana on December 3 in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. If he keeps shooting 58% from three, Cameron Indoor might need to check the rims for magnets.
For now, though, the ACC can start printing the certificate. Jeremy Roach didn’t just put himself on Player of the Year watch; he crashed the party, kicked over the table, and dared anyone to tell him he doesn’t belong at the grown-ups’ seating.
Player of the Week? Try Player of the Month conversation in November. And we still have six days left.
**Final Maui Stat Line – Jeremy Roach**
35 pts | 12-17 FG | 7-10 3P | 4-4 FT | 8 ast | 5 reb | 3 stl | 1 TO | 40 min
Duke 84, Baylor 78
Blue Devils claim 6th Maui title.
(Word count: 1,012)
Photo: Duke Athletics | Video: @Phenom_Hoops / @TheFieldOf68
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