Cam Boozer Finally Able To Breathe Against Louisville

The No. 6-ranked Duke Blue Devils (14-1, 3-0 ACC) pulled off an electric comeback effort to take down No. 20 Louisville (11-4, 1-2 ACC) at the KFC Yum! Center 84-73 on Tuesday night.

The Blue Devils entered the halftime locker room down 47-38, allowing the most points to an opponent in a half of any this season, and proceeded to outscore the Cardinals 46-26 across the second frame to seal their third straight victory to open conference play.

In the first half, there wasn't much going right for the Blue Devils outside of star freshman and National Player of the Year frontrunner Cameron Boozer, who ended the opening 20 minutes with 14 points on 6-of-7 (85.7%) shooting from the field and 2-of-3 (66.7%) shooting from three. Isaiah Evans contributed 13 points of his own in the first half, and the rest of the team combined for 11.

Cam is the best player in the country pic.twitter.com/qnAkkfYNX0
— Duke Men’s Basketball (@DukeMBB) January 7, 2026

It looked like the second half for Duke was going to be a similar makeup as the rest of its games against ranked opponents. Boozer completely takes the game over and single-handedly wills his team to victory. But that wasn't the case on Tuesday night.

Cameron Boozer Finally Able To Take Sigh of Relief As Teammates Provide Scoring Boost

Thankful to get the locker room exclusive w/ Cam & Caleb after outscoring Louisville 46-26 in the 2nd half pic.twitter.com/Rap6qN238c
— Duke Men’s Basketball (@DukeMBB) January 7, 2026

Jon Scheyer's prized rookie still got his in the second half, but it was the offensive contributions from the rest of the Blue Devils that propelled them to victory. The MVP of the second frame was undoubtedly Caleb Foster.

After entering the halftime locker room with four points, Foster completely took over the paint in the second half, finishing the contest with a career-high 20 points on 9-of-13 (69.2%) shooting. Duke's veteran leader was aggressive attacking driving lanes, played with pace, and used his 6'5" frame to get to the rim at will.

massive night for CFOS. Took over in the 2nd half.

20 POINTS
9-13 FG pic.twitter.com/nJvm4miB1Z
— Duke Men’s Basketball (@DukeMBB) January 7, 2026

Isaiah Evans was the next man up, as the sophomore sharpshooter tallied 23 points on 7-of-17 (41.1%) shooting and 4-of-10 (40%) from the perimeter.

Across Duke's first four ranked wins of the 2025-26 season, it became concerning with the heavy reliance on Boozer to generate offense on his own. In those first four ranked wins, Boozer averaged 25 points and 10.3 rebounds a night. In those same four contests, Evans and Foster combined to average 21.8 points on 37.3% shooting from the floor and 31.1% from beyond the arc.

Showtime at Louisville
23 PTS
6 REB
4 STLS pic.twitter.com/SI5H3sVN8A
— Duke Men’s Basketball (@DukeMBB) January 7, 2026

Duke also averaged 10.8 bench points in each of those games. In the Blue Devils' lone loss to No. 14 Texas Tech, Foster and Evans combined for 12 points on 4-of-11 (36.4%) shooting and 2-of-6 (33.3%) from three, while Boozer totaled 23 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists

Now, there will be other key offensive contributors in games this season, but Scheyer and his staff need Evans and Foster to be consistent along with Boozer for this team to reach its ceiling. The victory over Louisville was the first time fans got to see how lethal the trio can be, as they combined for 70 of Duke's 84 points.

Boozer still made sure the nation knew he was the best player in the country, as the 6'9" forward tallied 27 points, eight rebounds, four assists, and two steals against the Cardinals. But it's a very encouraging sign to see the supporting cast take the initiative on the offensive side of the ball and take some of the pressure off Boozer.

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