Boozer Leads Blue Devils Past Howard, 93-56

Sunday, November 23

Durham, N.C.

4 p.m.

Duke University

7-0,0-0ACC

Howard

3-4,0-0MEAC

Howard

Duke

Boozer Leads Blue Devils Past Howard, 93-56

11/23/2025 6:39:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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DURHAM, N.C. – No. 5 Duke closed the Brotherhood Run weekend with a 93-56 victory over Howard on Sunday, Nov. 23. The Blue Devils (7-0) scored a season-high 52 first-half points, while holding Howard (3-4) to just 18 points in the opening 20 minutes. As a team, Duke shot 36-of-59 (.610) overall, its best shooting percentage of the season and its first regular-season game shooting 60-percent or better since going 40-of-64 against Stanford on Feb. 15, 2025.

Eight different Blue Devils scored in the first half, as Duke grabbed control of the contest early. Cameron Boozer led the Blue Devils overall, posting a 26-point, 12-rebound, double-double. The freshman shot 10-of-12 (.833) from the field and also dished four assists and tallied two steals.

Patrick Ngongba II scored in double-figures for the third consecutive game, notching 16 points on 8-of-9 (.889) shooting from the field. Isaiah Evans also scored double-digits with 11, highlighted by three thunderous slam dunks.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Patrick Ngongba II slammed home the first bucket of the game off an alley-oop pass from Caleb Foster. A fast-break slam by Isaiah Evans on the next possession forced a Howard timeout after just 90 seconds of play.
Another slam from Evans, coupled with triples by the sophomore and Darren Harris, moved Duke in front by double-digits, 21-8, shortly before the under-12 timeout.
A nine-point run, capped by a three-pointer from Cameron Boozer, increased the margin to 21, 34-13, with just under seven minutes before halftime.
Boozer was the first player in double-figures, scoring his 10th point from the charity stripe. A steal and dunk by the freshman forced Howard's second timeout of the opening half, with 1:07 on the clock.
The Blue Devils scored the final 11 points of the first half and headed into the break with a 52-18 advantage.
Duke continued the offense out of halftime, scoring 17 of the first 22 points, capped by a Nikolas Khamenia triple to put the Blue Devils up 69-23.
Boozer secured his double-double, grabbing his 10th board and promptly stepped into a three-pointer to eclipse 20 points less than 30 seconds later.
The Blue Devils' lead grew to 50, 89-39, before the visitors reeled off 10 unanswered, leading to a Duke timeout with 3:41 remaining.
Cameron Sheffield drilled a three-pointer to stop the run and Duke went on to close out the 93-56 victory.

NOTES

The victory marked head coach Jon Scheyer's 96th with the Blue Devils.
Dating back to last season, Duke has won 21 consecutive games at home.
- The Blue Devils are now 52-3 (.945) at Cameron Indoor Stadium in four seasons under Scheyer.
Duke's 7-0 start is the best open to a season under Scheyer.
Sunday afternoon was the first meeting between the two teams.
Duke is 12-0 when playing on Nov. 23.
- The Blue Devils have won all five games played at home on this date.
The Blue Devils entered the game ranked sixth in the nation in field goal percentage defense (.334).
- Duke held Howard to 17-of-56 (.304) shooting from the field.
- Duke has held all but one opponent under 40% shooting from the field.
- The Blue Devils limited Howard to just 18 points in the first half, the lowest output in the opening 20 minutes by a Duke opponent so far this season.
On the glass, Duke won the rebounding battle, 43-26.
- The Blue Devils have finished with a double-digit advantage on the boards for five straight games, having finished +21 twice (at Army West Point, vs. Indiana State), +11 against Kansas and +20 versus Niagara.
Duke finished with an advantage in all but one of the specialty stats, leading in points off turnovers (17-12), points in the paint (58-14), second-chance points (12-8) and fast-break points (22-1).
Duke's defense held Howard to 56 points. The Bison entered the game averaging 75.3 points per game.
- The Blue Devils have held each opponent this season under their respective scoring average.
- The Bison are the fourth Duke opponent to finish with less than 60 points this season.
The Blue Devils distributed 21 assists – the fifth time in seven games Duke has tallied at least 20 helpers.
Duke finished 36-of-59 (.610) from the field, their best shooting percentage in a game this season.
- Duke eclipsed 60-percent from the field in the regular season for the first time since shooting 40-of-64 (.625) against Stanford on Feb. 15, 2025.
Duke went 21-of-31 (.677) from the field in the first half, surpassing its 20-of-32 (.625) performance against Indiana State for the best first-half field goal percentage of the season.
The 52 points scored by the Blue Devils in the opening 20 minutes also set a new season high.
As a team, the Blue Devils tallied 12 dunks on Sunday.
- Duke's season high for dunks in a single game is 13, set at Army West Point on Nov. 11.
Duke has now connected on at least one 3-pointer in 1,271 straight games, the longest streak nationally.
Saturday marked the 545th consecutive game at Cameron Indoor Stadium that was sold out. The last time Duke did not have a sellout at home was on Nov. 6, 1990, against Boston College.
Cameron Boozer posted his second double-double in his last three outings, scoring 26 points, while matching his career high of 12 rebounds.
- Boozer shot 10-of-12 (.833) from the field, his second game this season with at least 10 field goals while shooting better than 80-percent from the field.
- The double-double is Boozer's fourth of the season and second with at least 20 points.
- Boozer added four assists and two steals, finishing the game with a +/- of +44.
Patrick Ngongba II scored 16 points on 8-for-9 shooting.
- Across the last three games, the sophomore is 15-of-16 (.938) from the field and has scored at least 13 points in each of those contests.
Isaiah Evans also scored in double-figures with 11 points, highlighted by three thunderous dunks.
Dame Sarr brought in eight caroms, a new career high for the freshman.
Cayden Boozer finished with a game-high seven assists, his third outing with at least five dimes in Duke's last six contests.

QUOTES

"[It was] an honor to have Kenny Blakeney back. Nate James, [I] spent a lot of time with Nate here as a player and as a coach. Kenny obviously, his success and what he has done at Duke and at Howard makes it just a big-time honor. I thought we did a lot of good things. They played incredibly hard even to the final second. A lot of the turnovers late; I think [that] came from a place of how hard they play and what their program stands for. The efficiency, particularly from Cam [Boozer] and Pat [Ngongba], if my math is right, they were 18-of-21 from the field. That was great, and we will continue to build and get ready for Thursday." - Duke head coach Jon Scheyer
"I just wanted to come out with a lot of energy. That's something we talked about, having stronger starts as a team. I feel like we've done it the last few games. Hopefully, we'll build on that going into [the game against] Arkansas. At the end of the day, we focus on what's important. Everything else, points, rebounds, whatever, it comes right along with it." - Duke freshman forward Cameron Boozer

UP NEXT

No. 5 Duke faces off with No. 21 Arkansas in the CBS Sports Thanksgiving Classic on Thursday, Nov. 27.
The Blue Devils and Razorbacks will clash at the United Center in Chicago, with tipoff scheduled for 8 p.m., broadcast live on CBS.

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