Hot take: this Duke team looks awfully good.
The Blue Devils rolled past Coastal Carolina 113-52 on Thursday night to move to 2-0 on the 2026-27 season, using their first two games against Army and the Chanticleers as a tune-up before the real test arrives against No. 6 Michigan State in the Champions Classic on Nov. 10.
If this was another checkpoint for Jon Scheyer’s group, plenty of the answers came back positive. Duke had several standouts in the blowout, and the only real blemish was a sloppy stretch with the ball.
Patrick Ngongba keeps looking like a player who can be a force on both ends all season long. Through Duke’s three preseason games and first two regular-season contests, his growth has been obvious, and Thursday was his loudest statement yet.
The 6-foot-11 junior posted a career-high 28 points, nine rebounds, an assist and a block while hitting 10 of 13 shots and 2 of 3 from deep. It was the first 20-point game of his Duke career, and it came with the kind of efficiency that jumps off the page.
His offseason body transformation and improved footwork are showing up every time he touches the floor.
With so many scoring options around him, Ngongba may end up being one of the most reliable pieces on the roster. Scheyer and his staff clearly valued keeping him in the fold, and he backed that up by showing just how high his ceiling can be.
The backcourt was just as impressive. Cayden Boozer started again, but Caleb Foster and Deron Rippey Jr. made the point guard rotation look loaded from top to bottom.
Boozer finished with 11 points, three rebounds, three steals and a career-best 12 assists, continuing to settle in as a high-level college point guard. Foster added 15 points and two assists in only 17 minutes, going 5 of 7 from the field, while Rippey chipped in eight points in the same amount of court time.
The bigger picture is simple: the label next to the name doesn’t matter much at point guard. Boozer, Foster and Rippey are all going to play, and all three are going to matter.
Duke’s depth is obvious, but the guard room might be even better than that. John Blackwell was part of the mix too, quietly scoring 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting.
Freshman Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje didn’t light up the scoreboard, but he still made his presence felt in plenty of ways. The seven-footer finished with nine points, five rebounds, an assist, a steal and three blocks while shooting 2 of 5 from the floor.
His value goes well beyond scoring. Scheyer can use him as a versatile defensive weapon, and he can chip in offensively in different spots as well.
He’s clearly a major talent, but his role is still taking shape.
For all the good Duke showed, the turnovers stood out as the one area that needs cleaning up. The Blue Devils had 13 against Army and followed that with 15 more against Coastal Carolina. The mistakes were less frequent in the second half, but several were unforced.
In Other News...
Duke Just Sent A Clear Message About Nate Sheppards Rise
Dukes weekend was busy across the board, but the clearest statement came away from Cameron Indoor, where the football program formally kicked off a Heisman Trophy campaign for sophomore running back Nate Sheppard. It is the kind of move that only happens when a school believes a player has moved from promising contributor to national talking point, and Sheppard has certainly given Duke reason to make the push after leading the Power Four in multiple statistical categories.
The timing matters, too, because Dukes other teams were in the middle of a mixed stretch. The mens basketball team rolled past Coastal Carolina behind Patrick Ngongbas career-high 28 points and a double-double from Cayden Boozer, while the mens soccer team fell 2-1 to Clemson in the ACC Championship and the womens soccer team finished its regular season with a scoreless draw against Virginia. Against that backdrop, the football programs message was hard to miss: Sheppard has become one of the Blue Devils biggest national selling points, and the campaign only adds to the spotlight on what he might do next. [Read more 🡒]
Jon Scheyer Sent A Clear Message To Duke Freshman In Blowout Win
Jon Scheyer has made it clear all season that Dukes freshmen are going to be coached hard, and Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje got a reminder of that in a blowout win. After a turnover and a missed dunk attempt turned into an opponents transition basket, Scheyer called him over for a timeout and sent him to the bench, a small moment that fit the standard the Blue Devils have been talking about since the season began.
Even with that brief correction, Scheyer has been encouraged by Boumtje Boumtjes early progress. The freshman has already shown he can help in meaningful minutes, especially on the defensive end, and Scheyer has pointed to his coachability as a reason for optimism. For Duke, the bigger picture is less about one mistake in a lopsided game and more about how quickly a young player is absorbing the demands that come with wearing the jersey. [Read more 🡒]
Manny Diaz Rumors Put Duke Stability Back In The Spotlight
Florida States decision to move on from Mike Norvell immediately sent a ripple through the coaching carousel, and Manny Diaz found himself back in the conversation almost by default. For Duke, it is the kind of outside noise that can arrive quickly around a coach who has already helped steady the program and draw attention with a strong run, even as the Blue Devils continue to focus on their own footing in the ACC.
Diaz has already addressed the speculation and made clear he is happy at Duke, which is exactly the sort of reassurance the program wants to hear when another job opens up in the region. The timing also lands in a conference landscape where NC State has been through its own recent football changes and uneven results, a reminder that stability is a valuable commodity right now and one Duke would prefer not to lose. [Read more 🡒]