Why Boozer's Sick of Beginning ‘Sloppy’ After Louisville Performance

The Duke basketball program outscored No. 20 Louisville (11-4, 1-2 ACC) 46-26 in the second half to seal an 84-73 victory over the Cardinals at the KFC Yum! Center on Tuesday night. It was another slow start for the Blue Devils on both sides of the ball, as they allowed Louisville to shoot 47% from the field and 10-of-21 (48%) from three-point range in the first half.

Duke entered the halftime locker room in a 47-38 deficit, marking the most points the team has allowed to an opponent in any half this season.

Duke fans have grown accustomed to seeing the Blue Devils look like a completely different team in the second half in several games, and it was another makeup of the sort against Pat Kelsey's club. The Blue Devils have now entered the halftime break tied or in a deficit in each of their last three games, after doing so twice through their first 12 games. However, every contest where Duke has entered the half down has resulted in a victory.

"Michigan State is tough as could be. Coming in here, I thought our guys were tested beyond anything we've seen so far." @jimjackson419 spoke with @DukeMBB's Jon Scheyer after the No. 4 Blue Devils hand the No. 7 Spartans their first loss of the season. pic.twitter.com/zcspsaRxOn
— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) December 6, 2025

Not much was working for the Blue Devils offensively outside of prized freshman Cam Boozer in the first half. The 6'9" National Player of the Year frontrunner finished the opening 20 minutes with 14 points on 6-of-7 (85.7%) shooting from the floor and 2-of-3 (66.6%) shooting from three. The rest of the squad shot 6-of-26 (23.1%) from the field and 3-of-14 (21.4%) from three in the first frame.

Duke Flips Switch in Second Half To Handle Louisville on the Road

Video game numbers for Cam

🎮💪💪👀 pic.twitter.com/0ZksyxPmEj
— Duke Men’s Basketball (@DukeMBB) January 7, 2026

However, as fans have seen before, Jon Scheyer's club looked like a completely different crew in the second half. The Blue Devils ended the game shooting 51% from the field, while holding Louisville to just 10-of-31 (32.3%) shooting from the floor and 2-of-17 (11.8%) from three in the second half. Duke also surrendered just 12 free throws to the Cards in the game, while it made 19 of its own 28 attempts.

After the road victory, Boozer, who ended the matchup with a game-high 27 points to go along with eight rebounds, four assists, and two steals, spoke about the team's regular slow starts and how that needs to change if Duke is going to reach its ceiling.

"We started off really slow, really sloppy," Boozer said. "That's been a constant thing for us. So, it's definitely something we got to work on. But, I mean, our team, we've just shown tremendous toughness. Tremendous, you know, ability to fight the adversity."

Is it somewhat concerning to consistently see the Blue Devils put themselves in holes with slow starts on both sides of the ball on multiple occasions this year? Sure. But what makes Duke so scary is the fact that it is 14-1 overall and ranked No. 6 in the AP Poll, while clearly not being anywhere near its ceiling in early January.

Cam Boozer talks to @notthefakeSVP after Duke's eighth straight win vs. Louisville 🤩 pic.twitter.com/ue1h8aR6zu
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 7, 2026

Duke (14-1, 3-0 ACC) will face No. 24 SMU (12-2, 1-0 ACC) next at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Jan. 10. The Mustangs have won four of their last five games.

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