Duke basketball turned in one of its most complete performances of the season on Saturday night, rolling past Stanford with an emphatic 80–50 victory.
Against the Cardinal, it was the Cameron Boozer show once again. The freshman forward recorded a dominant 30-point, 14-rebound double-double while shooting an efficient 12-of-17 from the field and 2-of-3 from beyond the arc. Boozer controlled the game on both ends, overwhelming Stanford’s frontcourt with his size, skill, and energy.
Boozer received strong offensive support from Isaiah Evans and Patrick Ngongba, both of whom scored in double figures. Evans finished with 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field and just 1-of-2 from three-point range—his lowest number of three-point attempts this season. Ngongba added 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting and made his presence felt defensively as well, tallying two steals and a block.
What separated this performance from Duke’s previous outings, however, was the Blue Devils’ fast start and elite defensive execution. Duke jumped on Stanford early and never let up, particularly against Cardinal freshman guard Ebuka Okorie, one of the nation’s top scorers entering the game at 22 points per contest.
The unsung hero of the night was Dame Sarr. While Sarr finished with just three points on two shot attempts, his on-ball defense against Okorie was outstanding. Sarr’s physicality and discipline disrupted Okorie throughout the game, holding him to just nine points on 3-of-9 shooting with four turnovers—by far the worst performance of his young career…