Have you wondered, like we have, how Cameron Boozer stacks up against Cooper Flagg? Well, we have the answer now: who cares? They’re both great!
Boozer certainly was as Duke won a back-and-forth Thanksgiving affair in the Windy City over Arkansas, 80-71.
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It’s become a bit of an unfortunate trend but Duke started slow against Arkansas, missing 9-10 shots out of the gate and turning the ball over way too much.
The Blue Devils settled down though and started cutting into the early Razorback lead.
After falling behind 12-5, Duke caught up at 17-17.
Duke went up 20-17 on an Evans three after two misses and two offensive rebounds by Maliq Brown, who hit Evans with a pass for a three after the second board in that sequence.
And at a certain point in the first half, after struggling somewhat, Boozer just erupted.
Boozer got a layup at the 10:06 mark. Then, with about 6:25 left, he went into takeover mode. It was like that clip of former Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson talking about hearing Larry Bird on car radio when he was at Indiana State: Boozer hits a three! (6:33). Boozer gets a layup! (5:33). Boozer steals the ball and passes to Dame Sarr for a dunk! (5:35). Boozer gets a rebound! (5:21). Boozer hits a three! (5:11).
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Might as well call him Vesuvius Boozer after that, because that was an absolute eruption of greatness.
After that, he hit Maliq Brown for a layup and then got another basket himself (3:53), then a dunk (3:09) to put Duke up by 12, 39-27.
Arkansas gets full credit for a rally that started with a 7-0 run to close out the first half and extended into the second.
Arkansas took a 48-47 lead on a three pointer by Meleek Thomas with 16:47 to play in the game and followed that with a layup to give the Razorbacks a 50-47 advantage.
Arkansas built a 60-53 lead with 10:09 to play before Duke really got it together and responded. Caleb Foster hit a three, then Boozer struck again with a coast-to-coast dunk. Then after an Arkansas layup, he got another dunk and soon after a free throw to cut the lead back t0 62-60.
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Arkansas pushed the lead back to 64-61 on a Billy Richmond three and Boozer responded again with a three point play to knot it back up at 64-64.
Patrick Ngongba hit a shot to make it 66-64, then Caleb Foster scored after a steal to put the Blue Devils up 68-64.
Boozer muscled a shot in while being fouled but missed the free throw to give Duke a 70-66 lead with 3:25 to play and after that, Foster hit a crucial three to put the Devils up 73-69. Boozer scored again – we think that was a shot where he tried to lob it to Ngongba but it just went in because why not?
It was just that kind of night.
From there on out it was foul shots to close the Hogs out.
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Those are some of the basics of the game, but what that does not and cannot demonstrate is that despite some serious mistakes and some poor play, Duke ultimately prevailed, and a lot of that was down to Boozer’s brilliance. He scored 35 points in 36 minutes, shot 13-18/2-4, had 9 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals.
And while that’s incredibly impressive, what it cannot demonstrate is his desire, because very few players have his combination of talent, skill and instinct to win. In Duke history, while it’s early, in that sense we’d compare it to Christian Laettner and Shane Battier. He’s playing at an extraordinary level.
And while Duke had stretches of struggle in this game, we saw tremendous play from several people, not least of all Foster. He made a couple of foolish mistakes with the ball, but Foster finished with 15 points, 8 boards and 5 assists. Unfortunately, he had 4 turnovers and a couple were dumb and the last one frankly dangerously careless Still, Duke survived and he was a key part of the win.
Patrick Ngongba continued to play well, with 11 points, 5 boards, 2 assists, one steal and one critical block late. Not only that, he didn’t try to throw it in the next zip code, only to give it back to Arkansas. He blocked it off the board and Duke recovered.
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That was with :30 seconds left and Duke up 78-71. Give it back and Arkansas maybe hits a 3 and it’s 78-74 with a half-minute to play. It was a very heady play.
And while Isaiah Evans struggled on offense (but not on defense) and Dame Sarr was erratic, Nik Khamenia was brilliant off the bench.
Khamenia only scored 4 points and pulled down 5 boards, but he injected a kind of toughness that Duke really needed. It wasn’t about points at all. It was a freshman showing everyone how to have a backbone. He was really important. Remember how early we said he needed to gain some strength? Well, he still needs to muscle up, but his toughness is a huge asset.
It would be wrong not to say how impressive Arkansas was. They were a lot better than we expected. Frankly, we thought Duke might win by double digits and possibly easily. That certainly didn’t happen. This team needs to mature and toughen up, but Calipari has a heck of a team on his hands. They will be trouble in the SEC.
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Notes – It was good for Duke to get hit in the mouth and get back up and hit back…confidence for Foster and Ngongba is noticeably improved…not a great game for Cayden Boozer but he’ll be better…the shot where Boozer tried to pass it to Ngongba for a dunk was hilarious…when you’re hot you’re hot…what we saw from Boozer tonight was a guy who has the means and will to impose himself on the game like not many can…it’s way early for this but there is a chance that the NBA’s Rookie of the Year and college basketball Player of the Year could both come from Duke…
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