Balanced Offensive Attack Leads No. 6 Duke Past No. 24 SMU, 82-75

Saturday, January 10

Durham, N.C.

2 p.m.

Duke University

15-1,4-0ACC

SMU

12-4,1-2ACC

SMU

Duke

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Balanced Offensive Attack Leads No. 6 Duke Past No. 24 SMU, 82-75

1/10/2026 5:18:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Duke Quotes (PDF)Opponent Quotes (PDF)Postgame Notes (PDF)

DURHAM, N.C. - The No. 6 Duke men's basketball team defeated No. 24 SMU, 82-75, on Saturday, Jan. 10, at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Blue Devils (15-1, 4-0 ACC) earned their sixth top-25 victory of the season, utilizing four players scoring at least 12 points, to defeat the Mustangs (12-4, 1-2 ACC). Isaiah Evans led the team with 21 points, including a key three-pointer late in the second half. Cameron Boozer and Patrick Ngongba II scored 18 and 17 points, respectively, and Cayden Boozer rounded out Duke's double-digit scorers with 12 points.

Cameron Boozer paced Duke on the glass with seven boards, and joined his brother, Cayden, and Nikolas Khamenia for the team lead in assists with four dimes apiece.

HOW IT HAPPENED

SMU jumped out to an early double-digit lead, scoring the first 11 points of the contest.
Isaiah Evans got Duke on the board with a triple, and Duke pulled within six, 13-7, following a layup by Patrick Ngongba II at the 15:11 mark.
After an SMU dunk put the visitors in front by three, 17-14, Duke reeled off a 10-point scoring run to grab the lead, 24-17.
The two teams traded baskets for the next four minutes of play, with Dame Sarr connecting on his second consecutive three-pointer to push the Blue Devils' lead to 10, 35-25, shortly before the under-four media timeout.
Cameron Boozer punched home a one-handed slam in the waning seconds of the first half, helping Duke take a 41-35 lead into the break.
Evans started hot out of halftime, drilling two athletic triples and forcing an SMU timeout after just 90 seconds of play.
Cayden Boozer was next to make back-to-back trifectas, extending the lead to the largest of the afternoon, 53-40. SMU responded with a 10-2 scoring run to narrow the margin back to five with 13:22 remaining.
Duke's lead ebbed between nine and five points and the Blue Devils led, 69-64, as the clock hit five minutes remaining.
A jumper by the Mustangs with 1:44 on the timer brought SMU within a possession, 73-70. Cameron Boozer found Evans for a key triple on the next possession, putting Duke back in front by multiple possessions for good. Evans made four free throws across the final 20 seconds to push the sophomore past 20 points and ice the 82-75 victory.

NOTES

Dating back to last season, Duke has won 25 consecutive games at home.
- The Blue Devils are now 56-3 (.949) at Cameron Indoor Stadium in four seasons under head coach Jon Scheyer.
- Duke has won 12 straight against ACC foes at home.
The Blue Devils have won 26 of their last 27 games against conference opponents.
Saturday was just the sixth meeting between the two teams.
- Duke improved to 5-1 against SMU and has won both home games against the Mustangs.
- The Blue Devils have won the last three contests against SMU.
No. 24 SMU was Duke's seventh nationally-ranked opponent this season.
- The Blue Devils improved to 6-1 against ranked foes, having already secured victories over No. 7 Michigan State, No. 15 Florida, No. 20 Louisville, No. 22 Arkansas and No. 25 Kansas.
Scheyer coached for the first time against SMU, after associate head coach Chris Carrawell filled in for the head coach in the last meeting between the two teams on Jan. 4, 2025.
When playing on Jan. 10, Duke is now 19-3 overall and 11-5 at home.
With the win, Duke earned its sixth Quad 1 win of the season – the most by any team in the country.
The Mustangs entered Saturday's game averaging 90.1 points per game, leading the ACC and ranking 18th nationally.
- Duke's defense held the visitors to 75 points, 15.1 below SMU's average.
SMU also entered Saturday afternoon leading the league in assists per game (18.7).
- The Blue Devils slowed SMU's distribution, holding the Mustangs to just 10 assists.
The Blue Devils forced SMU into a season-high 21 turnovers.
- The Mustangs' previous high was 16 turnovers, against Radford (Nov. 24) and Butler (Nov. 15).
- The 21 turnovers are the most by a Duke opponent this season. The prior high was 18 by Indiana State (Nov. 14).
The Blue Devils outscored SMU in bench points, 34-4.
Duke finished the contest with 13 fouls and holds a record of 60-2 (.968) in four seasons under Scheyer when committing 15 or fewer fouls.
Saturday marked the 549th 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.
- Duke earned its 500th victory during the current sellout streak, moving to 500-49 (.911).
Isaiah Evans scored a team-high 21 points, connecting on 5-of-11 from the field, including 4-of-8 from long distance, and 7-of-8 from the free-throw line.
- Evans has posted more than 20 points in three consecutive outings, with 28 points at Florida State, 23 at Louisville and 21 against SMU.
- In Duke's four ACC contests, the sophomore averaged 22.3 points per game.
Evans knocked down four 3-pointers on eight attempts from deep against the Mustangs.
- Evans has drained three or more 3-pointers in nine games this season.
- Duke is 20-0 in the past two seasons when the sophomore sharp-shooter hits three or more triples.
Cameron Boozer contributed in a variety of ways, with 18 points, a team-best seven rebounds, two steals and four assists to tie to the team lead in helpers.
- Boozer demonstrated an efficient offensive performance, shooting 5-of-9 from the field, 2-of-4 from behind the arc and 6-of-7 from the foul line.
Patrick Ngongba II matched his career-high with 17 points, while also grabbing five rebounds.
- Ngongba's 12 double-digit scoring efforts this season includes 17 points versus Niagara (Nov. 21).
Cayden Boozer tallied 12 points, four assists, two boards and two steals on Saturday.
- The freshman guard came off the bench to play a season-high 34 minutes and finished with a game-best +14 plus-minus.
Dame Sarr equaled his season-high with four steals against SMU.
Maliq Brown made the first start of his Duke career.
- Brown's last start was on March 13, 2024, against NC State in the ACC Tournament while playing for Syracuse.

QUOTES

"I would like to start by saying that it is a pretty special thing having the 2001 National Championship team back here. I was at that game, the national championship. I was in the wrong section. I was in the Arizona section, believe it or not, and I remember that team: the ultimate drive-and-kick team. [They were] some of the greatest players ever to play college basketball and one of the greatest teams ever to play college basketball. I wish we put a better performance on for those guys, because those guys had incredible toughness, and they played incredibly unselfish and smart basketball. I thought our guys made the plays required to win. You've got to give SMU credit. [Jaden] Toombs had a big-time game. [B.J.] Edwards was really good stepping up with [Boopie] Miller being out. But we have to be better. That is the bottom line. I have to help them be better. It starts with me, and we have to be steadier. We are a little bit like this [up and down] now, on a roller coaster ride. For me, it's growth and learning. What an opportunity to learn from a win, which is a blessing. To be 4-0 in our league is great, but my thing is about growth and learning. We will get back to the film, get back to practice and continue to do that. I want to say one more thing, I'm really proud of Cayden Boozer. What he did for us tonight [is that] he completely steadied us. He was terrific. [Patrick Ngongba II matched] his career high, and we know Pat and how special of a player he can be. I thought they had a great response. You can get into starting, you can get into all this other stuff, all this superficial stuff, [but] then those guys are pros. They had a great attitude, and they had the two biggest plus-minuses in this game. I love seeing that." - Duke head coach Jon Scheyer
"I kinda forgot that the students got back, and when it filled up like it did, we knew it was going to be one of those games. It was real electric today. It's great to have that original Cameron feeling back." - Duke sophomore guard/forward Isaiah Evans
"I mean, we've got to be a lot better. It's a great win against a great team. But we get leads and we kind of get comfortable, and we've got to find a way to figure that out. We've got to figure out what we do when we get leads, because we're not handling it well right now." - Duke freshman forward Cameron Boozer

UP NEXT

No. 6 Duke begins its west-coast swing on Wednesday, Jan. 14 at California.
The Blue Devils (15-1, 4-0 ACC) and Golden Bears (13-4, 1-3 ACC) tip off at 11 p.m., ET. The game will be broadcast on ACC Network.