Duke didn’t just beat Coastal Carolina on Thursday night. The Blue Devils got a breakout performance from Patrick Ngongba II, and head coach Jon Scheyer made it clear afterward that this is exactly the kind of version he wants to see.
Ngongba, a 6-foot-11, 250-pound Virginia native, posted a career-high 28 points in Duke’s 113-52 home win over the Chanticleers. He was efficient, too, going 10-for-13 from the field, 2-for-3 from three and 6-for-10 at the foul line. He added nine rebounds, one assist and one block in a team-high 25 minutes as a starter.
When Ngongba first met the media after the game, he tried to push the spotlight toward sophomore point guard Cayden Boozer, who finished with a career-high 12 assists along with 11 points, three rebounds and three steals. But the numbers told the story of a night when Duke kept feeding its big man and Ngongba kept finishing.
“It felt great,” Ngongba explained to Duke Blue Devils On SI about his performance after finally accepting the fact that he would be the go-to interview for the media in the locker room. “My teammates, they were giving me the ball where I could score easily. And I feel like I did a good job of finishing and hitting the open shot.”
Scheyer sounded fully in favor of that approach. He said he wants Ngongba to keep expanding his game instead of being limited to one role.
“I think the biggest thing for Pat, we don’t want him to feel like he’s in a box,” Scheyer noted in his postgame press conference after Ngongba had also totaled nine rebounds, one assist, and one block across his team-high 25 minutes as a starter. “He’s a traditional big from one standpoint, where he can post and score inside. But he’s not a traditional big because he can shoot, he can handle, he can really play-make, as you guys have seen.
“So for me, it’s just trying to empower him and give him the green light to do what he feels and sees on the court. He’s got amazing instincts.
He’s always going to be a team guy. And an aggressive Pat is the best version of Duke.
And we need to continue to keep him aggressive in that mindset.”
Through two games, including Monday night’s 84-50 season-opening win over Army, Ngongba is leading the Blue Devils with 19.0 points and 8.0 rebounds per game. He’s also averaging 1.5 assists, 0.5 steals and 1.0 blocks while shooting 68.4 percent from the field, 50.0 percent from three and 62.5 percent at the line.
Ngongba is one of only two players on the roster who have been with Duke for more than two years, along with senior point guard Caleb Foster.
Last season, Ngongba averaged 10.5 minutes off the bench as a freshman in 2024-25 before becoming a full-time starter. In that role, he put up 10.1 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.1 blocks in 21.9 minutes per game.
Now, the Preseason All-ACC First Team big man and Duke’s 2026-27 squad are turning their attention to Tuesday’s Champions Classic matchup with No. 6 Michigan State in Chicago’s United Center.
Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. ET on ESPN.
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