The middle part of the game was kind of sketchy, but ultimately Duke put the University of Central Florida away, 96-71. The Knights acquitted themselves well but Blue Devils freshman Cameron Boozer was the unquestionable star of the game.
Things started off with a nice moment as former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, current coach Jon Scheyer and UCF coach Johnny Dawkins all met at half court. It was a Brotherhood moment to be sure. Coach K did the we’re-not-worthy bow to Dawkins and kneeled down and Dawkins, perhaps unnecessarily, helped him back to his feet. It was a sweet moment.
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Then the game started.
Duke shot out to an early lead behind a three point barrage before UCF began to find the range. Throughout the first half, the more experienced Knights cut into Duke’s lead with more patient offensive possessions and ultimately went into halftime down just 40-39.
In the second half, UCF took a 34-30 lead before the Blue Devils got going. Boozer hit a layup and a three to spark his team and soon enough Duke was up 54-48 and built the lead from there.
The Blue Devils started to defend better and to score better and a bit of foul trouble for UCF didn’t hurt.
For his part, the bigger Boozer finished with 33 points on 12-19/4-7 , 12 rebounds and four assists. He had many impressive individual plays, including a Eurostep layup and a tremendous pass through traffic. It really had some zip on it. He maneuvered in traffic against experienced defenders and basically had his way.
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Cayden Boozer made an impression too. The brothers demonstrated immediate chemistry. They know exactly what the other expects. We’re not sure we’ve ever seen twin brothers where one is a big man or at least a big forward and the other a point guard. It’s like a couple that’s been married for decades and they finish each other’s sentences. It’s kind of amazing to watch.
That said, at times Cayden had unforced errors. He drove into traffic and didn’t seem to have an answer when he got there. Still, he finished with five assists.
We also saw some remarkable things from fellow freshman Nik Khamenia. The first thing that jumped out at us was his desire to impose his will on the game. We’re not sure we’ve ever seen a freshman at Duke who communicated so well – so forcefully – so early. He was like a traffic cop on the court. He was urging guys to move through, he put his arm around Sebastian Wilkins when he came in and essentially coached him. That was pretty amazing for such a young player.
Despite not being well developed, he was more than willing to put his body on the line. UCF was a very physical team – not dirty, certainly, but very physical – and Khamenia put his body on the line consistently. You don’t want to compare people to Larry Bird, but we’ll give Khamnia this: his willingness to take physical punishment reminds us of Bird, who took a tremendous amount of abuse during his career.
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In other words, despite a very thin teenage build, Khamenia is tough. When he matures physically, the guy is going to be nasty.
The other freshman we saw (Dame Sarr sat out with an oblique injury and Maliq Brown is also not back from his knee problem yet), Wilkins, was uncertain in the first half. When he got in in the second, he was a different player. At one point, he took a ball off a rebound and led the break. He had a dunk and showed a kind of physicality that this Duke team can really use. Boozer played well inside, but no one else really did. It’s just the first game, but still, it’s a concern until it’s not.
As for the older players, while Isaiah Evans didn’t shoot well – 4-12/3-10 – he showed immense improvement over last season. He defended at a higher level, was totally willing to drive and even had an impressive block in the second half. He’s still terribly slim and strength may be an issue for him for some time, but his improvement is undeniable and impressive.
Patrick Ngongba was visibly slimmer which means he’s put in a lot of work, but he was kind of passive for much of the game. He finished with six points, seven rebounds and two assists but was overshadowed by Boozer. Duke really could have used more from him inside. He’ll have better games but he was sort of off in this one.
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Caleb Foster finished with three points, seven rebounds and four assists. He was not great scoring wise, but his rebounding and defense were quite solid. He also recovered very quickly from some mistakes. At one point, he lost the ball in the lane and just grabbed it back.
We got brief glimpses of Jack Scott, Iffy Ufochukwu and Cameron Sheffield. Scott had a nifty pass in the lane that got some oohs and ahhs while Ufochukwu showed agility as a defender.
As a team, this group is nowhere near where Duke was last year, which is no big surprise. That team had three first-round draft picks who were each remarkable in their own way with one, Cooper Flagg, being transcendent.
This team has a lot of potential but it has work to do. Having Brown and Sarr back will help a lot. Brown is a superb defender of course and he’ll change things on the inside. We haven’t seen Sarr yet but a versatile 6-8 athletic presence will only help.
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The three point shooting is going to be dangerous, but as of now, the inside in particular has work to do. We could see Wilkins emerge as a bigger presence than anyone expected as a freshman.
Notes – As noted, Khamenia is still underdeveloped physically, but his competitive desire and toughness are truly impressive…It’s been a while since we’ve seen a guard who can move the ball downcourt as fast as Cayden Boozer can…that guy has some end-to-end speed..when he gets a better sense of college basketball he’s going to be dangerous…Cameron Boozer has superb fundamentals. He’s not overhwhelming athletically although he’s a very good athlete…it’s the little things, like following a shot and not bringing the ball down…the Eurostep…the spin moves…his fundamentals are as refined as any freshmen, Flagg included, as we’ve seen at Duke…next up is Tennessee and as Duke fans know, the Vols are going to be even more physical than UCF…Duke will have to take it up a notch…
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