DURHAM – Nobody watching Mark Mitchell’s 3-point shot last season was calling it fundamentally perfect.

Duke’s lefty has a herky-jerky shooting motion that results in line drives. But it went in, to the tune of 19-for-54 (35.4%), last season. It was the second-best percentage on a team that, for the most part, was starved for long-range consistency.

Now that Duke has a team that shoots 3s significantly better, Mitchell has gotten significantly worse.

Mitchell is 1-for-17 (5.9%) this season. He made a 3-pointer early against Bucknell on Nov. 17 and has missed 12 straight 3s since then.

“Just a slump, I guess,” Mitchell told Devils Illustrated after Duke’s win over Hofstra last week.

It’s a slump that his coach has faith he’ll break out of soon.

“He’s so close,” coach Jon Scheyer said. “I’m telling you, Mark is so close to having just some big-time games. He’s right there.”

One of the adjustments has been Mitchell’s role.

Last season, he spent most of his time playing on the wing; this year he’s at the 4-position.

“I think last year was different because my shots were coming as a 3,” he said. “My shots are coming differently than they used to, but I’m going to hit those eventually.”

The mystifying part — maybe the surprising part — is that Mitchell is scoring at a higher clip than last year. He averaged 9.1 points last season and is at 11.4 this season. The Blue Devils’ record when Mitchell scores in double figures is up to 20-2 over the past two seasons; strangely enough, both losses were in Duke’s first ACC road game of the season.

His turnover rate has improved (16.7% to 11.3%), as has his offensive rebounding percentage (5.9% to 9.7%, both per KenPom) this year.

“Just finding different ways to impact the game and staying involved,” Mitchell said. “Obviously my shot hasn’t been falling this year and I mean, the law of averages has to play out, so I feel like it’s going to happen.”

Duke’s next opponent, Baylor on Wednesday night, is likely to defend Mitchell in the same ways that others have — by sagging far off him and packing the interior, daring him to make open jump shots. The Bears play a three-guard lineup similar to the one Duke has played most of the season, even without Tyrese Proctor in the last two games.

“Obviously it’s a new thing for me and the team,” Mitchell said. “You know, your whole life you have the ball in your hands and teams don’t play you like that. But it’s been actually — I’ve enjoyed learning how to play in a different way.”