Clemson’s Road Magic Ends at Cameron as Duke Dominates Second Half
Durham, NC - For two seasons now, Clemson has been one of the ACC’s most battle-tested road teams. Fourteen straight conference road wins - the longest such streak in 25 years - had turned the Tigers into road warriors.
But Cameron Indoor Stadium is a different beast. And on Saturday, that beast reminded Clemson of its bite.
No. 4 Duke pulled away in the second half to hand No.
20 Clemson a 67-54 loss in front of a raucous home crowd. The final score doesn’t quite capture how thoroughly the Blue Devils controlled the second half - or how quickly Clemson’s momentum unraveled.
The loss snapped Clemson’s remarkable 14-game ACC road win streak, a run that had them flirting with conference history. But it also extended a far less flattering trend: Clemson is now 4-62 all-time at Duke and hasn’t won inside Cameron since 1995. That’s 31 years of frustration - and counting.
After a 10-1 start in league play, Clemson (20-5, 10-3 ACC) has now dropped two straight, first to Virginia Tech at home and now to Duke on the road. It’s their first ACC losing streak of the season and a gut check moment for a team that had been cruising.
Duke (23-2, 12-1 ACC), meanwhile, avoided a potential tie atop the standings and tightened its grip on first place. Freshman phenom Cameron Boozer led the way with 18 points, while Isaiah Evans added 17, including four triples. That duo helped Duke outpace a Clemson offense that simply couldn’t find its rhythm.
Cameron Chaos from the Jump
Duke wasted no time setting the tone. Just seconds into the game, Boozer intercepted a pass near midcourt, took two hard dribbles, and hammered home a dunk over Clemson’s Carter Welling.
The crowd of 9,314 - which included ACC commissioner Jim Phillips, actor Ken Jeong, and former Duke standout Cooper Flagg - erupted. That early jolt of energy never really faded.
Still, Clemson hung around in the first half. They slowed the tempo, fed the post, and leaned on forward RJ Godfrey to keep the game within reach. Even with poor shooting - just 32% from the field and 1-of-9 from deep - the Tigers trailed only 31-26 at the break.
But the second half was a different story.
Cold Shooting and Missed Chances
Clemson’s offensive struggles didn’t just linger - they deepened. Duke came out of halftime with a renewed defensive intensity, and the Tigers simply couldn’t match it. Within minutes, the Blue Devils had built a double-digit lead, and from there, they never looked back.
Even when Clemson strung together a mini-run - hitting four of five shots midway through the second half - they still found themselves down 17 points. That’s how relentless Duke was.
“You can’t score,” Clemson head coach Brad Brownell said postgame. “Holding Duke to 67, I probably would’ve taken that if you told me that at the beginning of the game. It’s just, you can’t keep up.”
Clemson finished with a season-low 54 points, shooting just 35.1% from the field and 25% from three - both among their worst marks of the year. Guards Dilon Hunter and Jestin Porter had a tough afternoon, combining for just eight points on 3-of-11 shooting. When your backcourt goes cold in Cameron, it’s a long day.
Duke led by as many as 22 before a late Clemson push - an 11-3 run in the final minutes - added some cosmetic respectability to the scoreboard. But by then, the damage was done.
Duke’s Dominance at Home Continues
Under head coach Jon Scheyer, Duke has made Cameron Indoor a fortress. Saturday’s win marked their 60th in 63 home games under Scheyer and their 16th straight home win in ACC play. The Blue Devils have now won 95% of their home games over the past four seasons - a staggering number, even by Duke standards.
Scheyer credited his team’s defense for setting the tone.
“I thought our defense was top notch today,” he said. “We made it really difficult on them.”
Indeed, Duke’s ability to contest shots, close out on shooters, and disrupt passing lanes kept Clemson uncomfortable all afternoon. And when the Tigers couldn’t generate offense from the perimeter or the paint, the Blue Devils pounced.
Clemson Looks to Reset
Saturday’s loss was Clemson’s first ACC road defeat since January 2025 at Louisville and their first time dropping back-to-back games since December, when they lost to ranked Alabama and BYU squads during non-conference play. With five ACC games remaining, Brownell’s group still has everything to play for - but the margin for error is shrinking.
“We’re not as gifted, I don’t think, as some of the teams at the top of the league, so we have to really play at a high level,” Brownell said. “We have to minimize our mistakes.
But we’ve had a lot of success. Let’s not let a bad week derail us.”
That’s the challenge now for Clemson: bounce back, regroup, and rediscover the form that had them looking like legitimate ACC contenders. Because while Cameron Indoor may remain a house of horrors, the Tigers still have time to write a different ending to their season.