Duke Marches into Sweet 16 by Topping TCU

Saturday, March 21

Greenville, S.C.

5:15 p.m.

Duke University

34-2,17-1ACC

TCU

23-12,11-7Big 12

TCU

Duke

Duke Marches into Sweet 16 by Topping TCU

3/21/2026 7:54:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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

GREENVILLE, S.C. – Cameron Boozer exploded for 17 second-half points, leading Duke to the Sweet 16 with an 81-58 victory over TCU. The Blue Devils (34-2) outpaced the Horned Frogs (23-12) by 19 points following intermission to advance to the second weekend for the third consecutive season under head coach Jon Scheyer.

Isaiah Evans helped Duke keep pace early with a team-high 13 points in the opening half as the Blue Devils led by just four at the break, 38-34. In addition to Boozer's push in the second half, Dame Sarr poured in nine with a trio of three pointers after the half. Evans finished with 17 points, while Sarr totaled 14 with eight rebounds.

Duke was also aided by the return of Patrick Ngongba II, who had not played since the NC State contest on March 2. Ngongba finished with four points, four rebounds and four assists in his return.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Both defenses forced a stop of their respective first possessions, with TCU putting the first points on the board with a long two-pointer. Maliq Brown answered right away, slamming in an alley-oop pass from Cameron Boozer.
The two teams traded triples, with Dame Sarr connecting on a contested shot from the corner. The Blue Devils took their first lead off a layup by Cayden Boozer after three minutes of action.
Patrick Ngongba II made his return to the floor at the 16:14 mark, his first game action since March 2, and scored less than a minute later with a layup through contact.
Maliq Brown tied the game, 12-12, with a three-point play. An offensive rebound by Brown set up Isaiah Evans for a three-pointer, pushing Duke's lead to four, 19-15, with 11 minutes remaining before halftime.
Evans converted a four-point play to increase the Blue Devils' lead to five, 27-22, and give the sophomore 11 consecutive points. A driving layup by Evans forced a TCU timeout at the 5:24 mark, with Duke leading by eight, 31-23.
The Horned Frogs scored six of the next eight points, narrowing Duke's advantage to four, 33-29. Duke stayed in front by at least three for the remainder of the half, entering the break with a four-point lead, 38-34.
TCU scored the first six points out of the break, triggering a Duke timeout with 16:11 on the clock. Cameron Boozer snapped the Blue Devils' scoring drought with a dunk and sank two free throws after a flagrant foul by the Horned Frogs.
Consecutive three-point plays by the Boozer brothers, first by Cayden and then by Cameron, put Duke back in front by multiple possessions, 50-44, with 13 minutes remaining. Nikolas Khamenia drained a contested corner trifecta, forcing TCU to call timeout with 11:49 on the clock and Duke leading, 53-44.
Sarr's three-pointer pushed the lead to double-digits for the first time, 57-47, as the second frame reached the halfway point. The lead ballooned to 14, 64-50, with two technical free throws by Cayden Boozer and Sarr's third triple of the night.
Duke's scoring run reached 13 straight, expanding the margin to 20 points, 70-50, at the five-minute mark. At the final media timeout, the Blue Devils remained in control, 74-52, as they finished off the victory.

NOTES

Duke earned its 128th win in the NCAA Tournament, the third-most by any team in the history of the event.
- The Blue Devils improved their overall NCAA Tournament record to 128-42 (.753), marking the highest winning percentage in tournament history by a team with a minimum of 20 games played.
The Blue Devils advanced to the Sweet 16 for the 29th time since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985.
- The 29 appearances since 1985 lead all teams in the country, ahead of second place by four (North Carolina, 25).
The Blue Devils improved to 30-10 when playing in the second round and 60-11 when playing as a No. 1-seed.
Across the last two seasons, Duke owns the best record in Division I college basketball, at 69-6 (.920).
- The 69 wins across the last two seasons is tied for the best two-year stretch in Duke history, matching the 69 victories posted from the 1997-98 (32) and 1998-99 (37) campaigns.
- Since Thanksgiving 2024, the Blue Devils have achieved a record of 65-4 (.942).
Duke increased its current winning streak to 13 games, its longest stretch without a loss this season and the second-longest active win streak in the nation (High Point, 15, at time of publication).
Saturday marked the first meeting between the two teams.
- The Blue Devils moved to 10-3 when playing a Big 12 opponent in the NCAA Tournament.
The Blue Devils are 7-3 when playing on March 21, with all of those games being played in the NCAA Tournament.
Saturday's game was Duke's 301st played when ranked No. 1 in the country, ahead of UCLA's 257 for the best total all-time (since 1949).
- Duke is 259-42 when ranked No. 1 in the country.
- Since 1998, the Blue Devils have played 199 games as the top-ranked team, more than twice as many as the next best tally (84 by North Carolina), with a record of 169-30 in those contests.
The Horned Frogs entered Saturday's game averaging 77.9 points per game, but were held to just 58, 19.9 points below their season average.
- Duke's defense has held all but two of its 36 opponents below their scoring average this season.
Duke entered Saturday's contest ranked fourth nationally for scoring margin (+18.8)
- The Blue Devils outpaced that average, winning by 23 points.
- The 23-point victory marked Duke's 37th NCAA Tournament victory by at least 20 points, the second-most in tournament history.
Entering Saturday, Duke ranked fifth nationally for rebounding margin (+10.9).
- The Blue Devils outrebounded the Horned Frogs by 17 (42-25) and have finished with a positive margin on the glass in 32 games this season.
- Duke has finished with a double-digit edge on the glass in seven consecutive games and a total of 22 times this season.
Duke finished with an advantage in two specialty stats, leading in points in the paint (38-28) and second-chance points (18-10).
The Blue Devils finished the game with 15 fouls. Duke has a record of 71-3 (.959) when committing 15 or fewer fouls under Scheyer.
Duke registered one scoring run of at least 10 unanswered points, seizing control of the game with a 13-point burst in the second half. The Blue Devils increased their season total for kill shots to 39.
Duke has now connected on at least one 3-pointer in 1,300 straight games, the longest streak nationally.
Cameron Boozer scored 17 of his 19 total points in the second half and grabbed 11 rebounds, tallying the 21st double-double of his season.
- Boozer also added four assists and three steals, becoming just the second freshman over the last 10 seasons to have at least 10 rebounds, four assists and three steals in an NCAA Tournament game.
- Boozer became the first Duke player to post a double-double in each of his first two NCAA Tournament games since Gene Banks (four straight) and Mike Gminski (three straight) both did so in 1978.
- The freshman also led the team in steals with three.
Isaiah Evans scored 17 points, highlighted by a stretch of 11 straight in the first half.
- The sophomore has scored at least 16 points in each of his last three games, making multiple three-pointers in each of those three contests.
Dame Sarr set a new career high for made three-pointers with four, en route to 14 total points.
- The freshman went 4-of-7 from beyond the arc, while also grabbing eight rebounds, swiping two steals and blocking a shot.
Maliq Brown rounded out Duke's double-digit scoring with 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field and 4-of-5 from the free-throw line.
- The senior finished one rebound shy of a double-double with nine boards.
Cayden Boozer distributed a team-high five assists, while adding nine points and four boards.
Patrick Ngongba II made his return to the court after missing the last five games due to injury.
- The sophomore played 12 minutes and tallied four points, four rebounds and four assists.

QUOTES

"I thought the second half was (the team's identity) -- it was there after the first minute and a half, two minutes. Even after the first half, you're not going to blow people out. It felt like a big-time tournament game. But you have the lead, and I thought when we got back to just guarding the way we can, valuing the ball on the offensive end, that's where we got separation, and that's been the identity all year." - Duke head coach Jon Scheyer
"We were just talking about how we came out soft, we gave them confidence, and we said just now's the time. Let's get stops. Let's get a run going. Let's do what we do. We came out and we did that, and we went on our run, like you said. Just getting the stops, protecting the rim, being the more physical team. That's what we hung our hat on all year long, and we've got to continue to do that the rest of the year." - Duke freshman forward Cameron Boozer about Duke's response to TCU's run to open the second half.

UP NEXT

No. 1 Duke advances to the Sweet 16 in the East Region, hosted in Washington, D.C. The top-seeded Blue Devils will play the winner of the second-round game between No. 4-seed Kansas and No. 5-seed St. John's.
The regional semifinal is scheduled for Friday, March 27. Tip time and TV channel will be announced at a later date.

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