No. 1 Duke Defeats Clemson, 73-61, to Advance to ACC Title Game

Friday, March 13

Charlotte, N.C.

9:30 p.m.

Duke University

31-2,17-1ACC

Clemson

24-10,12-6ACC

Clemson

Duke

No. 1 Duke Defeats Clemson, 73-61, to Advance to ACC Title Game

3/14/2026 12:47:00 AM | Men's Basketball

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

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The top-seeded and No. 1-ranked Duke men's basketball team advanced to the 2026 ACC Tournament title game with a 73-61 victory over Clemson on Friday, March 13 at the Spectrum Center. The Blue Devils (31-2) stifled the Tigers (24-10) in the first half, to the tune of just 22 points allowed, while receiving career games on the offensive end of the floor from freshmen Cayden Boozer and Nikolas Khamenia.

Cameron Boozer posted game-highs of 24 points, 14 rebounds and five assists, posting his 19th total double-double and 12th with at least 20 points, including three in-a-row. His brother, Cayden, scored a career-high 16 points in 37 minutes of action, while Khamenia matched his career high with 14 points, highlighted by three 3-pointers.

Duke out-rebounded Clemson, 41-27, with Isaiah Evans logging a career-high 10 boards. Cameron Boozer reeled in 12 caroms on the defensive end of the floor, the highest defensive rebound total by any Blue Devil in a game this season.

Saturday night will be Duke's third appearance in the conference title game in four seasons under head coach Jon Scheyer, after capturing ACC Tournament championships in 2023 and 2025.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Clemson opened the scoring with a fast-break dunk before Cayden Boozer got Duke on the board with a floater in the lane. Both defenses held strong through the first three minutes of play, with the Blue Devils holding a slight edge, 3-2.
Consecutive three-pointers from Nikolas Khamenia and Cameron Boozer pushed Duke back in front, 13-11, shortly before the under-12 timeout.
The Tigers moved back in front, 16-15, with just over 10 minutes until halftime. Dame Sarr connected on a corner triple to edge the Blue Devils into the lead, 18-16.
A Cayden Boozer layup, followed by a trifecta from Darren Harris, built the advantage to six, 24-18, at the 6:28 mark. Duke's defense held Clemson without a field goal for over five minutes, while the Blue Devils' offense used a 5-of-6 shooting stretch to go up by double-digits, 33-21.
The Tigers were forced to call a timeout with 2:45 remaining before halftime, after a contested mid-range jumper by Isaiah Evans. A pair of free throws and then a driving floater by Cameron Boozer gave the freshman 13 points. Khamenia connected on a last-second three-pointer, sending Duke into halftime with a 41-22 lead.
The Blue Devils' defense closed the first frame holding Clemson to 1-of-15 across the final 12 minutes, including not allowing a made shot for the final 7:44 of first-half action.
Clemson started the second half on a 7-2 run, but Khamenia stopped the Tigers' push with a three-point play with 16:31 on the clock. Boozer stepped into his second three-pointer of the night and Khamenia followed with his third triple to make it a 52-32 lead at the 13-minute mark.
Seven unanswered by the Tigers narrowed Duke's advantage, 52-39, before Cayden Boozer sent in a three-pointer from the corner. The Blue Devils maintained their lead, 62-46, as the game reached the under-eight timeout with 6:48 on the clock.
Boozer set a new career high for points with 16, after a driving layup at the four-minute mark. His brother, Cameron, followed with a layup to move past the 20-point threshold for the third consecutive game.
A triple by Boozer pushed his point total to 24 and Maliq Brown closed the scoring with a bucket in the dying seconds, securing Duke's 12-point victory, 73-61.

NOTES

The Blue Devils advance to the ACC Tournament title game for the third time in four seasons under head coach Jon Scheyer.
Duke has won 41 of its last 43 games against conference opponents.
Across the last two seasons, Duke owns the best record in Division I college basketball, at 66-6 (.917).
- Since Thanksgiving 2024, the Blue Devils have achieved a record of 62-4 (.939).
When playing Clemson, Duke is 117-34 in the all-time series.
- The Blue Devils have won 10 of the last 13 and hold an 8-4 record against the Tigers in the ACC Tournament.
The Blue Devils are 13-2 all-time when playing on March 13.
- Duke has won 12 of its last 13 games on this date.
Duke is the ACC Tournament's winningest team all-time with 115 victories.
- The Blue Devils are 26-8 in ACC Tournament games in Charlotte.
Duke is a combined 109-36 (.752) all-time in 13 current NBA venues.
- The Blue Devils have won 39 of their last 49 at NBA venues, including a 6-1 record this season and 4-1 mark last season.
- Duke has a 18-7 (.720) record in NBA facilities under Scheyer, including a 15-4 (.789) ledger in the past three seasons.
- The Blue Devils improve to 16-1 all-time at Spectrum Center, home of the Charlotte Hornets.
Friday's game was Duke's 298th played when ranked No. 1 in the country, ahead of UCLA's 257 for the best total all-time (since 1949).
- Duke is 256-42 when ranked No. 1 in the country.
- Since 1998, the Blue Devils have played 196 games as the top-ranked team, more than twice as many as the next best tally (84 by North Carolina), with a record of 166-30 in those contests.
Duke started the semifinal ranked third in the nation and leading the ACC in scoring defense (63.0)
- The Blue Devils limited Clemson to just 61 points.
The Tigers entered Friday's game averaging 74.5 points per game, but were held to 61, 13.5 points below their season average.
- Duke's defense has held all but two of their 33 opponents below their scoring average this season.
Entering Friday's semifinal, Duke topped the conference and ranked sixth nationally for rebounding margin (+10.8).
- The Blue Devils outrebounded the Tigers by 14 (41-27) and have finished with a positive margin on the glass in 29 games this season.
Duke registered one scoring run of at least 10 points to increase its kill shot season total to 36.
Cameron Boozer led all players in points (24), rebounds (14) and assists (5), his seventh game this season accomplishing the feat. Boozer expands his lead over Tim Duncan, who did so on five occasions, for the most times an ACC player has led all players in points, rebounds and assists in a season over the last 30 seasons.
- Boozer logged his 19th total double-double and 12th with at least 20 points. The freshman has tallied at least 20 points and 10 rebounds in three consecutive games.
- Boozer fueled his rebounding efforts with 12 on the defensive glass, the highest defensive rebounding total by any Blue Devil in a game this season.
- With his 24 points, Boozer moved into second place for Duke freshman scoring in a season with 752 points. He only trails RJ Barrett, who scored 860 points during the 2018-19 season.
- Boozer also moved into second place for Duke freshman rebounding in a season with 339. He only trails Marvin Bagley III, who grabbed 366 in 2017-18.
- The freshman made nine free throws, securing the Duke freshman record for free throws made with 183, passing Cooper Flagg's 179 in 2024-25.
Cayden Boozer scored 16 points, a new career high and his 10th career double-digit outing.
- Boozer played a career-high 37 minutes and shot 6-of-9 from the field, setting a new career benchmark for field goals made.
- The guard led all players in plus-minus, finishing the contest at +18.
Nikolas Khamenia logged 31 minutes, a new career high, and matched his career high for scoring with 14 points.
- The freshman made three 3-pointers, including a key triple with less than 10 seconds remaining in the first half.
- Khamenia finished the contest with six rebounds, his 10th career game with at least five boards.
Isaiah Evans grabbed 10 rebounds, setting a new career high on the glass, one game after matching his previous career high of six.
Maliq Brown swiped two steals, his seventh consecutive game with multiple takeaways and fifth straight game with a solo lead for the Blue Devils in the category.

QUOTES

"Really proud of our team. The ability to respond to a tough game yesterday and to totally play a different style. Clemson has always been -- you know what kind of game you're going to get with a Coach Brownell coached team. Physical, really understand their roles and what they're doing. They're adjusting a little bit like we are with Welling being out. He's a terrific player and I'm sure they'll make some adjustments before the tournament. But I thought for us to gain control, our defense was terrific. I thought it was a great response. And Nik, man, what a job he did coming off the bench. Gave us energy, offense, defense. He did everything for us. But great collective effort, and now we've got to go get some rest and get ready for one more." - Duke head coach Jon Scheyer

UP NEXT

No. 1-seed Duke (31-2) faces No. 2-seed Virginia (29-4) in the 2026 ACC Tournament title game.
The nation's top-ranked Blue Devils and No. 10 Cavaliers tip off at 8:30 p.m., on ESPN.

To stay up to date with Blue Devils men's basketball, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeMBB".

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