No. 3 Duke Falls to No. 19 Texas Tech, 82-81

Saturday, December 20

New York, N.Y.

8 p.m.

Duke University

11-1,0-0ACC

Texas Tech

9-3,0-0Big 12

Texas Tech

Duke

No. 3 Duke Falls to No. 19 Texas Tech, 82-81

12/20/2025 10:40:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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

NEW YORK – No. 3 Duke dropped its first contest of the season with an 82-81 defeat to No. 19 Texas Tech at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night.

Cameron Boozer led the Blue Devils with 23 points, eight rebounds and seven assists in the loss. Cayden Boozer also scored in double-figures, with 13 points.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Texas Tech raced out to an early 9-0 lead, leading to a Duke timeout after just over two minutes of action. Nikolas Khamenia got Duke on the board out of the break, hitting a corner three-pointer, and sprinted up the floor for a fast-break layup on Duke's next possession.
A triple from the top of the key by Dame Sarr pulled Duke back within a possession, 13-10, at the 14:05 mark. The Blue Devils took their first lead, 19-18, off a contested three-pointer from Darren Harris, forcing a Texas Tech timeout with 9:33 on the clock.
Texas Tech knotted the score at 21 shortly after the under-eight timeout, but Sarr connected on his second three-pointer on the next possession. Two free throws from Patrick Ngongba II and a transition layup by Cayden Boozer extended Duke's lead to five, 28-23.
Sarr and Boozer drilled consecutive triples, giving the Blue Devils a nine-point edge, 34-25. A steal by Harris led to a layup by Maliq Brown and extended the advantage to double-digits for the first time, 42-32. The Blue Devils remained in front by 10 at halftime, taking a 46-36 lead into the break.
Caleb Foster opened the second frame with a triple, his second of the evening. Khamenia also connected on his second deep ball of the game on Duke's next trip down the floor.
Texas Tech narrowed the margin back to single digits, 63-55, following a four-point play by the Red Raiders at the 12:07 mark.
A three-point play by Cameron Boozer at the under-eight media timeout, followed by an offensive board and layup by the freshman, made it an extended 11-2 scoring run by the Blue Devils.
The Red Raiders responded with an eight-point burst, narrowing the score to 74-71 at the final media timeout of the content. A driving floater by Cayden Boozer gave the freshman 10 points and edged Duke back in front by five. Texas Tech scored the game's next five and tied the score at 76 with just over two minutes remaining.
After Texas Tech went ahead by four, Cayden Boozer connected on a corner three-pointer to bring Duke back within one. A free throw by Cameron Boozer knotted the score at 81, but the Red Raiders converted on one of two from the charity stripe with less than five seconds to pull out the victory.

NOTES

Texas Tech marked the fifth consecutive, and seventh total, non-conference opponent that reached the NCAA Tournament last season.
- The Red Raiders reached the Elite Eight last season, falling to eventual national champion Florida.
Duke had its winning streak at Madison Square Garden snapped at nine.
- The Blue Devils are 10-2 in their last 12 games at the historic venue.
- Saturday night was Scheyer's 29th game at MSG as a Duke player, assistant coach and head coach. The Blue Devils are 23-6 in those contests.
- Across 13 current NBA venues, Duke is a combined 106-36.
- Saturday night was a sellout at MSG, with an announced attendance of 19,812.
Saturday was the third meeting between the Blue Devils and Red Raiders.
- Duke is 2-1 against Texas Tech.
Texas Tech became the first Duke opponent to shoot better than 50 percent from the field this season, finishing the game 32-of-58 (.552).
Texas Tech entered the contest leading the Big 12 in three-pointers made per game (11.0), which ranked 11th nationally.
- The Blue Devils' defense limited the Red Raiders to seven triples on 22 attempts from distance.
Texas Tech began the game averaging 83.6 points per game, but was held under its season average, with 82.
- The Blue Devils have held each opponent this season under their respective scoring average.
Duke was out-rebounded, 30-29.
- The Blue Devils have finished with a negative margin on the glass just three times this season.
Cameron Boozer led the team in points (23), rebounds (eight) and assists (seven).
- The seven assists set a new career high for helpers, with five of them coming in the first half.
Cayden Boozer also scored in double-figures with 13, finishing one point shy of his career high.
- Boozer was 5-of-8 from the field, including 2-of-5 from beyond the arc.
Dame Sarr made three triples in the first half, matching his career high for three-pointers in a game.
Maliq Brown swiped five steals, matching his career high and setting a new personal benchmark for the season.
- Brown also chipped in seven points and five boards.
Patrick Ngongba II distributed four assists, one shy of his career high.
- The sophomore has three games this season with at least three assists.

QUOTES

"Disappointing, tough loss. You first have to give credit to Coach (Grant) McCasland and their team. Their game plan was really good. They were tough. They made winning plays, and we have a ton of respect for him, their program, how hard they play. They're winners. I don't think that their record was indicative of how good they are. With that said, for us, it's disappointing. We're in control of that game. We're up in the second half. There's a bunch of different things you can point to. For me, I look at the rebounding. In this game, we missed 24 shots. We only got six of them. With their size they had on the floor, that's very disappointing. That's something we're going to address. We've had really good first-shot defense this year. We've been average defensive rebounding and then offensive rebounding, that's something we have to do a better job of. Obviously, they were playing a different defense, playing off some of our guys. We had the size advantage inside. I thought we got a little stagnant. That's on me to help our guys better. But look, for me, I think you have to look at these 12 games we've played. It's been a heck of a schedule. Our guys have battled like crazy. We've made tough plays down the stretch. Tonight, they made one more play than us. You put yourself in a position, you wish that they could hit a shot on you. Not just hit a free throw. And that was disappointing overall. Proud of our team with what we've done through 12 games. For me, it's taking time on how can I be better for our team? How can our staff be better? And then, how can our guys come back with a great purpose and great clarity for how we're going to take this next step. I'll say one more thing too. We've been playing with fire a little bit, right? I mean, we've done a great job getting leads in games. It's not easy to get leads, so we're doing good stuff to do that. But you can point to many different plays throughout the game where, it's not just two points, or it's not just three points, some of the plays we make. Technicals, flagrants, losing shooters, those plays are unacceptable. We're not going to make them. I'm going to help our guys moving forward and we're going to come back ready to go after break." - Duke head coach Jon Scheyer

UP NEXT

No. 3 Duke (11-1) opens ACC play at home, hosting Georgia Tech (8-4) on New Year's Eve.
The Blue Devils and Yellow Jackets tip off at 4 p.m., on Dec. 31. The game at Cameron Indoor Stadium will be broadcast 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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