Duke took another big step toward locking up the ACC regular-season title on Saturday, grinding out a 67-54 win over a physical Clemson squad that rarely makes things easy. With the win, the Blue Devils move to 23-2 overall and 12-1 in conference play, while Clemson drops to 20-6 and 10-3 in the ACC.
This was a game Duke had to earn. Clemson’s style isn’t built for aesthetics-it’s built to frustrate.
The Tigers slow things down offensively, bleed the shot clock, and muck up the paint on defense. It’s a brand of basketball that tests your patience and toughness more than your highlight reel.
“They uglify the game,” Duke head coach Jon Scheyer said afterward. And he’s not wrong.
Clemson head coach Brad Brownell put it plainly: “We’re not as gifted as some of the teams in the league. We have to work.
We have to minimize our mistakes. Our margins are small.”
Duke knew what was coming. But game plans on paper and execution on the floor are two different things. It took the Blue Devils a few possessions to adjust to Clemson’s physicality, but once they did, they never looked back.
Freshman Cam Boozer summed it up: “Matching their physicality, taking it up a notch, winning the boards.” That was the difference.
Isaiah Evans and Caleb Foster got Duke going early with a pair of threes, giving the Blue Devils an 8-4 lead. Clemson responded, tying it at 8-8 and briefly taking a 18-17 lead on a Ryan Godfrey dunk midway through the first half. That would be their last lead of the game.
From there, Duke’s defense took control. Foster pointed to the team’s ability to stay locked in for the full 30 seconds of Clemson’s deliberate possessions.
“That’s something we always work on,” Foster said. “Deep in the shot clock, talk has to arise, know where the shooters are. It comes back to practice and preparation.”
Duke ripped off an 11-2 run behind three-pointers from Evans and Dame Sarr, pushing the lead to 28-20. Clemson called timeout to regroup and made a small push, trimming the deficit to 31-26. But even with that mini-run, Duke’s defense held Clemson to just seven points over the final nine minutes of the first half.
Still, Duke left some points on the table. Sarr missed a tough layup in transition, Boozer missed the front end of a one-and-one, and a few late possessions lacked purpose. Patrick Ngongba’s limited minutes didn’t help-he picked up two quick fouls and played just 3:37 in the first half.
“Whatever it is, we need him in the game,” Scheyer said. “We’ll watch film, we’ll learn, and we’ll make sure he’s not getting into foul trouble. We can’t afford that, and I know he doesn’t like it either.”
Scheyer wasn’t thrilled with Duke’s shot selection either. The Blue Devils launched 18 threes in the first half, making six, while going just 5-for-11 inside the arc.
“I thought we settled too much,” Scheyer said. “That’s not who we’re going to be.
Some of them were good shots, but we have to be an inside-outside team. Credit to their defense-they make it hard to get into the paint and get the shots you want.
I thought in the second half we did a better job of settling in, playing to our strengths, and dictating what we wanted to do.”
Coming out of halftime, Duke wasted no time setting the tone. Evans drilled a three, Boozer finished inside, and Evans hit a pull-up jumper to stretch the lead to 38-26.
“The start of the second half is so important,” Scheyer said. “It’s great when you can score right away, like we did. But I thought our defense carried the day.”
Ngongba got on the board with a free throw, Boozer knocked down a three, and suddenly it was 42-28. At that point, Clemson had managed just 10 points over a 14-minute stretch.
Brownell admitted the second half didn’t start the way Clemson needed it to.
“We couldn’t put any game pressure on them,” he said. “They got to play the last 12, 14 minutes of the game with a 15-point lead, and that changes things.”
Cam Boozer, held to six points in the first half, found his rhythm in the second. He finished with 18 points, eight rebounds, four assists, two steals, and a highlight-reel block. Duke made a concerted effort to get him the ball in better spots, and it paid off.
Cayden Boozer said the team took pride in shutting down Clemson’s bread and butter-the paint.
“We understood that was their game plan,” he said. “They’re one of the best teams in the ACC at scoring in the paint. We took the challenge and didn’t give them good looks.”
Evans added that it came down to “attention to detail, trying to make them take the shots we wanted them to take.”
After Clemson cut it to 42-31 with a three from Efrem Johnson, Duke slammed the door with a 10-0 run. Cam and Cayden Boozer split the scoring evenly during that stretch, and the Blue Devils’ lead ballooned to 52-31-their largest of the game.
From there, Duke was in full control. Clemson never mounted a serious threat the rest of the way.
“I thought our defense was top-notch today,” Scheyer said. “We made it really difficult for them.
To get a lead in the second half, double digits, and sustain it was great. I thought Dame’s defense at the point of attack was a difference-maker.
I thought Cayden had some incredible moments today, giving us poise on offense and his defense was terrific as well.”
Cam Boozer led the way with 18 points, while Evans added 17 and Cayden Boozer chipped in 12. Ngongba, who played 15 second-half minutes, finished with six points and six rebounds-and confirmed postgame that his wrist felt fine.
Duke won the rebounding battle 37-32 and held Clemson to just 35% shooting from the field. The 54 points were the Tigers’ lowest output of the season.
Now it’s a quick turnaround for the Blue Devils, who host Syracuse at Cameron Indoor on Big Monday. Syracuse is coming off a tight 79-78 win over SMU, and Duke will look to keep its ACC momentum rolling.