No. 5 Duke Defeats Niagara, 100-42

Friday, November 21

Durham, N.C.

7 p.m.

Duke University

6-0,0-0ACC

100

Niagara

2-3,0-0MAAC

Niagara

Duke

100

No. 5 Duke Defeats Niagara, 100-42

11/21/2025 9:53:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Duke Quotes (PDF)Opponent Quotes (PDF)Postgame Notes (PDF)Photo Gallery

DURHAM, N.C. - The fifth-ranked Duke men's basketball team defeated Niagara, 100-42, on Friday, Nov. 21, at Cameron Indoor Stadium. All 12 Blue Devils scored and Duke finished with six different players in double-figures, led by Patrick Ngongba II's career-high 17 points.

Cameron Boozer added 14 points, while Isaiah Evans and Nikolas Khamenia each posted 12 points. Duke's double-digit scoring efforts were rounded out by Cayden Boozer and Caleb Foster, who scored 11 and 10, respectively.

Khamenia dished a game-high five assists, matching his career high, and Ngongba II led all players on the glass with eight boards.

Maliq Brown posted seven points and five rebounds on the offensive end, while tallying 12 deflections on defense, the most by a Blue Devil in a game so far this season.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Duke opened the scoring quickly, with Caleb Foster sending in a three-pointer and Cameron Boozer sinking a mid-range jumper. Following Niagara's first basket, a three-pointer, Duke reeled off 10 unanswered points to seize control, 15-3, after five minutes of action.
The Blue Devils scored 12 of the next 17 points, highlighted by a three-pointer from Isaiah Evans and a fast-break dunk by Boozer.
Foster, Cayden Boozer and Dame Sarr all connected on triples, pushing Duke's lead to 25, 38-13, with just over five minutes before halftime.
The visitors made two shots from deep across the final moments of the opening 20 minutes, and the Blue Devils remained in front, 47-19, at halftime.
The Blue Devils began the second frame on an 18-5 run, with Khamenia punctuating the burst with a three-pointer at the 13:37 mark.
Patrick Ngongba II went on a personal eight-point run, giving Duke 11 unanswered points and an 83-31 lead with 6:41 on the clock. A four-point play by Evans shortly after gave the sophomore 12 points for the game.
Jack Scott and Khamenia each made a shot from beyond the arc late in the contest to push Duke to the century mark and establish the final score of 100-42.

NOTES

The victory marked head coach Jon Scheyer's 95th with the Blue Devils.
Dating back to last season, Duke has won 20 consecutive games at home.
- The Blue Devils are now 51-3 (.944) at Cameron Indoor Stadium in four seasons under Scheyer.
Friday night was the first meeting between the two teams.
Duke is 12-3 when playing on Nov. 21.
- The Blue Devils have won four straight on this date, dating back to 2019.
Four Blue Devils connected on at least three 3-pointers against Niagara, marking just the fifth time in program history that standard has been met.
- The last time four Duke players hit at least three triples was Feb. 1, 2014, at Syracuse – Andre Dawkins (4), Rasheed Sulaimon (4), Rodney Hood (3) and Tyler Thornton (3).
- One of the other instances involved Friday's two head coaches, with Jon Scheyer (3), Greg Paulus (3), DeMarcus Nelson (4) and Taylor King (3) knocking down trifectas versus Albany on Dec. 17, 2007.
The Blue Devils entered the game ranked eighth in the nation in field goal percentage defense (.344).
- Duke restricted Niagara to 27.1% shooting from the field (13-of-48) and 24.1% conversion from behind the arc.
- Duke has held all but one opponent under 40% shooting from the field.
On the glass, Duke won the rebounding battle, 40-20.
- The Blue Devils have finished with a double-digit advantage on the boards for four straight games, having finished +21 twice (at Army West Point, vs. Indiana State) and +11 against Kansas.
Duke swept the specialty stats for the fourth time in five games, leading in points off turnovers (23-3), points in the paint (26-12), second-chance points (16-6), fast-break points (17-4) and bench points (42-7).
Duke's defense held Niagara to 42 points. The Purple Eagles entered the game averaging 66.5 points per game.
- The Blue Devils have held each opponent this season under their respective scoring average.
The Blue Devils limited Niagara to 19 first-half points – the fewest points allowed by Duke in any half this season.
Duke's defense forced 17 turnovers while limiting the Purple Eagles to just 11 assists.
- The Blue Devils have forced more turnovers than assists allowed in five of their six outings.
The Blue Devils distributed 24 assists on 32 made field goals – the fourth time in six games Duke has reached 20 helpers.
Duke scored 100 points for the third time this season and the ninth time under Scheyer.
- The Blue Devils are now 199-6 (.971) all-time when reaching the century mark.
The 58-point margin of victory is Duke's largest in a regular-season game under Scheyer.
- Friday marks the largest gap in points per possession under Scheyer (Duke 1.54 ppp / Niagara 0.65 ppp).
- The Blue Devils have won three games by at least 50 points under Scheyer.
All 12 Blue Devils that stepped on the floor made at least one field goal, including six scoring in double figures.
Patrick Ngongba II amassed a career-high 17 points, shooting a perfect 3-for-3 from the field, including his first career 3-pointer, and 10-of-11 from the free-throw line.
- The sophomore center also grabbed a game-high eight rebounds.
Cameron Boozer stuffed the stat sheet with 14 points, five rebounds, three steals, two assists and two blocked shots.
- Boozer's three thefts match his season best.
Nikolas Khamenia scored a season-high 12 points, connecting on 4-of-5 from long distance, and matched a season high with five assists.
Caleb Foster made a season-best three 3-pointers, leading to 10 points.
- During Foster's three-year career, the Blue Devils own a 5-1 record when the junior guard knocks down three or more triples.
Isaiah Evans scored 12 points, shooting 3-of-7 from long distance.
- Evans has made three or more 3-pointers in four games this season and 15 times during his Blue Devil career – all victories.
- The sophomore also distributed three assists to match his career high.
Cayden Boozer registered 11 points, making a season-best three 3-pointers on four attempts.
Dame Sarr contributed in a variety of ways with five points, five boards, season-highs of four steals and three assists, and a rejection.

QUOTES

"It was an honor to have Greg Paulus back. Greg and I were teammates for three years, and I never thought me and him would be here coaching. So, it was really an honor to have him and his team back here. Our team played to the standard that we wanted, and we started the game strong. We have a lot we need to continue to get better at, but I thought today was a really good step, and we'll keep growing." - Duke head coach Jon Scheyer
"Coming into the game, we were just trying to focus on being in the spots we needed to be in, transition defense, taking away easy points, just not letting them get anything easy, not letting them get into the paint and making them take tough shots. That's pretty much what we did, and I think it worked." - Duke junior guard Caleb Foster
""It definitely did [feel good]. [Niagara wasn't] the biggest team, so I was just trying to attack on the glass and protect the paint. I feel like I was just attacking the offensive glass, and I was able to get some easy free throws." - Duke sophomore center Patrick Ngongba II

UP NEXT

No. 5 Duke takes on Howard on Sunday, Nov. 23, as the second game of the Blue Devils' Brotherhood Run weekend.
Tipoff is scheduled for 4 p.m., and fans are able to watch live on ACC Network.

To stay up to date with Blue Devils men's basketball, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeMBB".

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