NEW YORK — Cameron Boozer scored a team-high 18 points and No. 4 Duke beat No. 23 Kansas 78-66 in the Champions Classic at Madison Square Garden in the first real test for the Blue Devils’ reworked and freshman-heavy roster.
‘I thought that especially down the stretch, we just showed great poise,’ said Duke coach Jon Scheyer. ‘That’s what it’s all about.’
Guard Isaiah Evans added 16 points and several key makes from deep for the Blue Devils. Center Patrick Ngongba had 13 points and 7 rebounds while battling foul trouble.
Kansas was led by guard Tre White, who finished with 22 points and 9 rebounds.
The Jayhawks played without freshman star Darryn Peterson, who missed his second game in a row with a hamstring injury.
His absence denied a high-profile matchup against Boozer, one of four premier recruits in Duke’s signing class; another is his twin brother, Cayden, a backup point guard who had 7 points and 3 assists. The two are the sons of longtime NBA forward Carlos Boozer, who also played at Duke.
One of the top prospects in the most recent recruiting cycle, Peterson was the No. 3 pick in the USA TODAY Sports way-too-early 2026 NBA mock draft.
‘Peterson being out changes their team, of course,’ said Scheyer. ‘But you also know those other guys are going to stand up.’
While White was able to recoup a chunk of Peterson’s lost production, the Jayhawks struggled at times in combating Duke’s athleticism and depth. The Blue Devils had nine players log at least eight minutes of action, showing off the makings of a deeper bench than last year’s Final Four team.
‘I thought it was the epitome of our team a little bit, in that all nine guys scored and all nine guys made big contributions,’ Scheyer said.
But no player was bigger than Cameron Boozer, who scored 11 points and pulled down 6 rebounds in the second half.
‘I like to rise to the occasion,’ he said.
Boozer was able to handle the environment at MSG, Scheyer said, adding, ‘I still don’t think he played incredible. That’s the thing that’s really exciting.’
Down 24-18 with 8:24 left in the first half following an emphatic alley-oop to Kansas forward Flory Bidunga, the Blue Devils clamped down defensively and held the Jayhawks without a field goal for nearly five minutes to go ahead 30-28.
That lead would grow to 41-33 at halftime after Evans drilled a deep 3-pointer from the left wing with four seconds remaining. Kansas went into the locker room shooting 13 of 34 from the field and scored just five points in the final 5:32 of the half.
Kansas would keep pace coming out of the break before a 3-pointer from the corner by freshman Dame Sarr — an Italian import by way of the Spanish club FC Barcelona — gave the Blue Devils their first double-digit lead at 51-41 four minutes into the second half.
A cold stretch from the Blue Devils, who missed all but one of their next nine attempts, helped KU make the score 54-49 with just under 13 minutes left.
Cayden Boozer responded with a jumper and layup on Duke’s next two possessions to put the Blue Devils ahead 58-51 just over a minute later. That triggered a strong response from the Jayhawks, who began to attack Duke in the paint and cut the advantage to 63-59 on a Bidunga dunk with 6:29 to play.
But the Blue Devils would respond with a key 3-pointer from Evans as the shot clock expired with 3:49 left, pushing the lead to 72-64. That was part of a 9-0 run down the stretch to put the game away.
‘I think the room for us to grow is as big as any team in the country,’ Scheyer said. ‘We have a real team. We don’t just have five players. We have a real team.’
