'showtime' Suddenly Awakens Duke Basketball In California

Late Wednesday nighttime successful Haas Pavilion, Jon Scheyer's 4th Duke hoops squad (16-1, 5-0 ACC) trailed nan unranked Cal Golden Bears (13-5, 1-4 ACC) by arsenic galore arsenic six points pinch nether 4 minutes to play successful nan first half. Evidently, nan 8 p.m. PT tipoff clip (11 p.m. connected nan East Coast) didn't rather suit nan group from Durham, yet that's been lawsuit pinch each different tipoff clip of precocious connected nan No. 6 Blue Devils' ACC slate.

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No worries. Duke yet woke up, acknowledgment successful ample portion to sophomore defender Isaiah Evans entering "Showtime Slim" mode astatine a captious juncture, and yet prevailed, 71-56.

Across nan past 90 seconds anterior to nan break, sophomore defender Isaiah Evans scored 8 of his team-high 12 first half points, which featured a 3-for-7 clip from downtown, thereby giving nan Blue Devils a 37-30 advantage entering nan locker room.

Foul-Prone Start to Second Half

Less than 5 minutes into nan 2nd half, nan Blue Devils committed their seventh foul since coming retired of nan locker room. The Golden Bears, who entered nan nighttime starring nan ACC pinch their 79.4 free propulsion percentage, tied nan people astatine 41-41 via nan kindness stripe and were successful nan prize nan remainder of nan way.

Duke swiftly flipped that script, though, tallying only 3 fouls crossed nan adjacent eight-plus minutes of action while outscoring nan Golden Bears, 21-7, successful that stretch.

The Blue Devils' 2nd half onslaught centered connected uncovering freshman sensation Cameron Boozer, chap rookie guardant Nikolas Khamenia, and sophomore large man Patrick Ngongba II either posted up successful nan overgarment aliases driving toward nan rim. As a result, they drew predominant fouls connected Cal successful reaching nan double prize pinch 9:48 near connected nan clock.

And from that constituent forward, Duke asserted its dominance.

Three Blue Devils vanished pinch 10 points aliases much successful nan contest: Cameron Boozer (21 points, 13 rebounds, 3 assists), Isaiah Evans (17 points, 3 blocks, 1 steal), and Nikolas Khamenia (10 points, 4 rebounds successful 25 minutes disconnected nan bench).

Remaining connected nan West Coast for a fewer much days, Duke hoops will now cogwheel up to look nan unranked Stanford Cardinal (14-4, 3-2 ACC), who recorded a 95-90 location triumph complete nan No. 14 UNC Tar Heels connected Wednesday night. The bout betwixt nan Cardinal and visiting Blue Devils gets underway successful Maples Pavilion astatine 6 p.m. ET Saturday (ACC Network).

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