Here are 15 takeaways from Duke basketball’s exhibition win over UCF

Duke basketball picked up a 96-71 win over UCF on Tuesday, Oct. 21, in an exhibition game at Cameron Indoor Stadium to begin its 2025-26 campaign.

The game was part of the Blue Devils’ Brotherhood Run, marking the return of former Duke All-American Johnny Dawkins to Cameron Indoor Stadium.

“There’s a ton we have to work on, there’s a lot we have to get better at, but I did like the competitiveness,” head coach Jon Scheyer said following the game. “I did like the fire that we showed. And we may not be deep in terms of numbers, but I think our depth is in our versatility with the different lineups we can play.”

Duke has one exhibition game remaining at Tennessee on Sunday, Oct. 26, before officially opening its season on Tuesday, Nov. 4 vs. Charlotte at the Spectrum Center.

Here are 15 key takeaways from the Blue Devils’ exhibition win over UCF on Tuesday night.

Who made Duke basketball starting five?

Caleb Foster, Isaiah Evans, Nikolas Khamenia, Cameron Boozer and Pat Ngongba II made up the starting 5 for the Blue Devils vs. UCF.

Cameron Boozer leads Duke in debut

True freshman Cameron Boozer had quite the Duke debut. He opened scoring in the game with a dunk and a made the ensuing and-one attempt after being fouled. He finished as the night’s leading scorer with 33 points and 12 rebounds, shooting 12-of-29 (63%) from the field and 4-of-7 (57.1%) from three in 31 minutes of action.

Maliq Brown and Dame Sarr did not dress out for Duke

After dealing with shoulder injuries last season, Brown recently underwent a minor knee procedure, with Scheyer saying the 6-foot-9 forward was “close” to making his return at ACC Tipoff on Wednesday, Oct. 8. Brown was out against UCF, as was true freshman Dame Sarr, who missed the night with an oblique strain.

Duke basketball uses strong second half to take down UCF

Duke was leading by as much as 11 points early on in the first half, but UCF fought to make it a one-point game, 40-39, going into halftime. The Knights actually took the lead briefly early in the second half, but that was answered by scoring runs by the Blue Devils as they outscored UCF 56-32 across the final 20 minutes.

Who were Duke’s top scorers?

Cameron Boozer led the team with 33 points, followed by 14 a piece from Isaiah Evans and Nikolas Khamenia.

How did Duke shoot as a team?

Duke finished the night shooting 42.9% (30-of-70) from the field and 34.3% (12-of-35) from beyond the arc. Duke had a much better second half, shooting 54.8% across the final 20 minutes compared to 33.3% across the first opening 20.

Duke bench came up big, led by Darren Harris

The Duke bench outscored UCF’s 26-6. That effort was led by Darren Harris’ 11 points on a 50% (3-of-6) shooting night in 19:05 of action, followed by Cayden Boozer with nine points in 22 minutes of action and Sebastian Wilkins with five across 9:43.

How did Caleb Foster do?

Caleb Foster, the lone third year member on the team, finished the night shooting 1-of-6 from the field, with his lone basket being a ‘3’, to go with seven rebounds and four assists across 24:52 minutes of action.

Who hit the most from 3-point range?

Duke came out firing from ‘3’, with 13 of its 15 shot attempts being from deep at one point in the first half. Cameron Boozer again led Duke in this category, going 4-of-7 from deep. Isaiah Evans added three made treys on his 10 attempts.

Duke dominates rebounding

The Blue Devils outrebounded the Knights 54-41. Duke had 36 defensive rebounds, with Nikolas Khamenia leading Duke with seven defensive rebounds. They had 18 off the offensive glass, with Cameron Boozer leading Duke in that category with six. Out of Duke’s team, five players finished with six or more rebounds.

Who was the first to check in off the bench for Duke?

At the 16:41 mark of the first half, Cayden Boozer checked in for Caleb Foster and Darren Harris for Isaiah Evans.

Cayden Boozer led Duke in assists

Cayden Boozer led the Blue Devils with five assists, followed by Caleb Foster and twin brother Cameron who each dished out four.

Duke dominates in the paint and with second-chance points

The Blue Devils outscored the Knights 34-20 in the paint and had 22 second-chance points, much to the thanks of 18 offensive rebounds.

Nikolas Khamenia makes presence known on both sides of court

The true freshman was tied for Duke’s second-most scorer with 14 points (9-of-12), adding eight rebounds for the second-most on the team with a steal and a block. Khamenia logged 32:15 minutes of action to lead the Blue Devils.

How did Duke shoot from the charity stripe?

Duke went 24-of-36 (66.7%) from the free throw line. Nikolas Khamenia made the most trips to the line, making nine of his 12 attempts, while Darren Harris was 4-of-5 from the line and Cameron Boozer 5-of-6.

Anna Snyder covers Duke for The Fayetteville Observer as part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at asnyder@gannett.com or follow her @annaesnydr on X, formerly known as Twitter.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Duke basketball takes down UCF in exhibition. Here are 15 takeaways

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