No. 5 Duke Surges Past Wake Forest, 90-69

Saturday, January 24

Durham, N.C.

12:00 p.m.

Duke University

18-1,7-0ACC

Wake Forest

11-9,2-5ACC

Wake Forest

Duke

No. 5 Duke Surges Past Wake Forest, 90-69

1/24/2026 2:33:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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

DURHAM, N.C. – The fifth-ranked Duke men's basketball team, fueled by a 32-point outing from Cameron Boozer, moved past Wake Forest, 90-69, on Saturday, Jan. 24. The Blue Devils (18-1, 7-0 ACC) outrebounded the Demon Deacons (11-9, 2-5 ACC) by a 43-22 margin, including a 16-6 effort on the offensive glass.

Duke's defense stifled an offense that entered the contest averaging nearly 81 points per game, including a stretch of nearly eight minutes in the second half when the Blue Devils' defense did not allow a made shot.

Boozer posted his fourth 30-point game of the season and has eclipsed 30 points in consecutive games. The freshman finished one rebound shy of a double-double, grabbing nine boards, and added four assists and three steals.

Patrick Ngongba II and Isaiah Evans joined Boozer in double-figures, scoring 13 and 11, respectively. Maliq Brown contributed across the board, scoring five points, while also reeling in eight caroms and dishing a team-high five dimes.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The two teams traded buckets in the paint for the game's first points in the opening minute. Back-to-back triples by the Demon Deacons put the visitors in front by six, 11-5, at the first media timeout of the game.
An alley-oop dunk by Patrick Ngongba II snapped a Duke stretch of nearly three minutes without a point, narrowing the deficit to just five, 16-11. A fast-break layup via Caleb Foster forced a Wake Forest timeout with 8:20 on the clock and the visitors ahead by just one, 18-17.
The Blue Devils took their first lead, 21-20, after Isaiah Evans slammed home a put-back dunk. A triple by Maliq Brown, followed by a fast-break three-point play from Cameron Boozer, pushed Duke's lead to five, 30-25, with five minutes before halftime.
Thirteen unanswered points, and an extended 20-5 scoring burst, sent Duke in front by double-digits, 37-25, and forced another Wake Forest timeout. The Blue Devils remained in front, 42-31, at halftime.
Duke's defense held Wake Forest without a field goal for three minutes to start the second frame and opened up a 17-point advantage, 50-33. Juke Harris scored 10 straight points to help the Demon Deacons pull within 10 points, 58-48. The two teams traded three-pointers on their next possessions, and Duke remained in front by double-digits at the under-12 timeout.
A finesse pass from Brown to Boozer set up a two-handed slam, giving the freshman 20 points. Duke's defense again held Wake Forest without a field goal for an extended stretch, spanning over seven minutes, as Duke slowly opened up a 24-point lead, 79-55.
Boozer eclipsed 30 points with his third trifecta of the afternoon, giving the forward his fourth 30-point game on the season and second consecutive.
Back-to-back buckets in the paint, by Evans and Foster, grew the lead to 25, 86-61, at the final media timeout.
The visitors scored eight points in the final 90 seconds, while Cayden Boozer connected on four shots from the charity stripe inside the same time frame to secure Duke's 90-69 victory.

NOTES

Dating back to last season, Duke has won 26 consecutive games at home.
- The Blue Devils are now 57-3 (.950) at Cameron Indoor Stadium in four seasons under head coach Jon Scheyer.
- Duke has won 13 straight against ACC foes at home.
The Blue Devils have won 29 of their last 30 games against conference opponents.
Duke extended its home winning streak over the Demon Deacons to 27 consecutive games.
- The Blue Devils have not lost at home to Wake Forest since 1997.
- Duke holds an overall 183-81 record in the all-time series.
Across the last two seasons, Duke owns the best record in Division I college basketball, at 53-5.
When playing on Jan. 24, Duke is now 17-5 overall and 10-3 at home.
- Duke has played Wake Forest four times on this date, with all four resulting in home wins.
Duke registered one double-digit scoring run, scoring 13 unanswered in the first half, to increase its kill shot total for the season to 22.
The Demon Deacons entered Saturday's game leading the conference, and ranked 18th nationally, with 15.5 turnovers forced per game.
- Duke took care of the ball on offense, committing just nine turnovers.
- The Blue Devils finished with less than 10 turnovers for the fourth time this season.
Duke began Saturday's contest leading the ACC and ranked seventh in the country for scoring margin (+20.4)
- The Blue Devils tallied their second consecutive victory of at least 21 over the Demon Deacons, having defeated Wake Forest by 33, 93-60, in the last meeting on March 3, 2025.
Duke's defense entered Saturday ranked 17th nationally and best in the ACC for scoring defense, allowing just 65.1 points per game and limited Wake Forest to just over that mark, at 69 total points, after the visitors scored eight points in the final 90 seconds of the contest.
- The Demon Deacons entered Saturday afternoon averaging 80.9 points per game.
The Blue Devils outrebounded Wake Forest, 43-22, and has finished with a positive margin on the glass in 15 games this season.
- Duke began the game ranked 15th nationally and leading the league in rebounding margin (+9.0).
Duke shot 21-of-24 (.875) from the charity stripe, its second-best percentage from the free-throw line this season (.920, 23-of-25, at Florida State, Jan. 3).
The Blue Devils outscored Wake Forest in four specialty stats, with leads in points in the paint (48-16), second-chance points (18-7), fast-break points (9-5) and bench points (21-15).
- Duke has scored at least 42 points in the paint in three straight games and in four of the last five outings.
- The 48 points in the paint are the most by Duke against a Power Four opponent this season.
Duke finished the contest with 14 fouls and holds a record of 61-2 (.968) in four seasons under Scheyer when committing 15 or fewer fouls.
Cameron Boozer scored 32 points, his fourth 30-point game this season and second straight (30 points at Stanford, Jan. 17).
- Boozer scored 22 points in the second half, the most by any Blue Devil in a second half this season.
- The forward became just the third Duke freshman to score 25 points or more in at least 10 games, joining Zion Williamson (16 times) and R.J. Barrett (14 times).
- The Miami, Florida, native became the first Duke player to score 30 points in consecutive games since Barrett accomplished the feat in February of 2019.
- Boozer finished one rebound shy of a double-double, with nine boards, and added four assists and three steals.
Patrick Ngongba II scored 13 points, alongside seven rebounds and two assists.
- Ngongba has reached double-digits in 15 career games, with 14 of those coming in Duke's first 19 games this season.
Maliq Brown contributed across the stat sheet, with five points, eight rebounds, five assists and zero turnovers.
Duke's frontcourt trio of Boozer, Brown and Ngongba combined for 11 assists with just two turnovers, along with 50 points and 24 boards.
Isaiah Evans rounded out the double-digit scoring with 11 points, including two dunks.
- The sophomore led all players in plus-minus, with a +28 mark.
Cayden Boozer shot a perfect 6-for-6 from the free-throw line, matching his career high for made free throws (at Army, Nov. 11, 2025)
- The freshman finished with eight points and added three rebounds.

QUOTES

"Really great to be back home for us coming back from the West Coast. Our fans were great. I thought Maliq [Brown] gave us incredible energy. I thought he was a disruptor; he made a big difference. Obviously, you look at what Cam [Boozer] did, but proud to get another win. I thought Wake Forest did a really good job. Some of their guys in the first half, who don't hit as many threes, made us pay. I thought we weathered the storm. We just had great connectivity with five guys defending and that's the thing, the last three games, I think we've taken a step with." - Duke head coach Jon Scheyer
"It was a good game. I think we came out and did what we were supposed to do, especially on the defensive end. We've just got to keep building. I think it was a good win, and we learned a lot from it. Different players step up on different nights, everybody being ready as a collective, whatever night it is. Just being consistent on both ends of the floor, trying to find ways to win, and just the competitive nature of the team. I think we could still get better on defense. And offensively, I feel like we could just flow a little better and find more advantages. But we're undefeated in conference play, so you can't get any better than that." - Duke junior guard Caleb Foster
"It felt great playing in front of the best fans in America, obviously. Coming back from that [California] trip is tough for sure, getting back to the same schedule. But we've got a great staff, and we got back on our routine quickly. The depth that we're showing right now is great. I think we're making strides right now. We're growing." - Duke freshman forward Cameron Boozer

UP NEXT

No. 5 Duke (18-1, 7-0 ACC) returns to action on Monday, Jan. 26, hosting No. 23 Louisville (13-5, 3-3 ACC). The Blue Devils and Cardinals are scheduled to tip off at 7 p.m., broadcast live on ESPN.

For more information on Duke Basketball, follow the Blue Devils on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by searching "DukeMBB".

#GoDuke