No. 4 Duke Rolls Past No. 20 Louisville, 83-52

Monday, January 26

Durham, N.C.

7 p.m.

Duke University

19-1,8-0ACC

Louisville

14-6,4-4ACC

Louisville

Duke

No. 4 Duke Rolls Past No. 20 Louisville, 83-52

1/26/2026 9:45:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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

DURHAM, N.C. – No. 4 Duke men's basketball blitzed No. 20 Louisville, 83-52, at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Monday, Jan. 26. The Blue Devils (19-1, 8-0 ACC) held the Cardinals (14-6, 4-4 ACC) to a season-low scoring output and outrebounded the visitors, 47-26, to earn Duke's seventh victory over a ranked opponent.

Cameron Boozer led all scorers with 19 points and added a game-high 10 boards for his 10th double-double of the season. The freshman also led all Duke players with four assists. Three other Blue Devils scored in double-figures, with Patrick Ngongba II and Isaiah Evans each scoring 15 and Nikolas Khamenia adding a career-high 14 points.

Duke scored 42 points in the paint, while limiting Louisville to just 10, its season low for the category. The Blue Devils have logged at least 42 points in the paint in each of their last four outings and in five of the last six contests.

With the win, Duke earned its 19th victory through 20 games played, the best 20-game start to a season under head coach Jon Scheyer. The last Duke team to win at least 19 games with just one loss to start a season was the 2010-11 squad.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The two teams traded triples to start the game, before five quick points by Isaiah Evans opened up an early Duke lead, 8-3, after just over two minutes of action. The Blue Devils raced out to an eight-point lead, 15-7, following a layup by Cameron Boozer out of the first media timeout.
The two teams traded buckets as the first half continued, with Duke maintaining a lead between two and eight points for a majority of the first frame.
A six-point burst by the Cardinals pushed the visitors in front for the first time, 25-24, with 4:30 remaining before halftime.
Duke responded with an extended 14-3 run, including nine straight, to close the first half and took a double-digit advantage, 38-28, into the locker room. Patrick Ngongba II scored Duke's first 10 points of the second half, helping extend the Blue Devils' lead to 15, 48-33, at the 17:27 mark.
A 16-6 burst, highlighted by a Nikolas Khamenia triple and fast-break dunk, grew the lead over 20 for the first time, 64-41, at the halfway mark of the second frame.
Khamenia continued the scoring surge with a trifecta and a three-point play. A Boozer dunk and contested jumper gave the freshman 19 points and Duke led by 25 points, 76-51, at the final media timeout.
Duke's defense held Louisville without a made field goal for the final 5:39 of action, as the Blue Devils closed out the 31-point victory, 83-52.

NOTES

Duke improved to 19-1 for the season.
- The 19 wins in the first 20 games of the season are the most by a Duke team under head coach Jon Scheyer.
- The 2025-26 team is the first since the 2010-11 squad to start a season 19-1.
- Under Scheyer, Duke has improved its 20-game record in each of his four seasons: 14-6 (2022-23), 16-4 (2023-24), 18-2 (2024-25), 19-1 (2025-26).
Duke matched up against Louisville for the second time in the month of January.
- The Blue Devils swept the regular-season set with the Cardinals, having won at Louisville, 84-73, on Jan. 6.
The Blue Devils have won 12 of the last 15 meetings with Louisville, including nine straight, and leads the all-time series, 19-9.
- Duke is 6-3 when hosting the Cardinals.
- In the 13 matchups that came with both teams ranked, Duke is 8-5.
Dating back to last season, Duke has won 27 consecutive games at home.
- The Blue Devils are now 58-3 (.951) at Cameron Indoor Stadium in four seasons under Scheyer.
- Duke has won 14 straight against ACC foes at home.
The Blue Devils have won 30 of their last 31 games against conference opponents.
Monday night marked Duke's eighth game against a nationally-ranked opponent this season.
- Duke is 7-1 against ranked teams.
- The Blue Devils have secured top-25 victories over No. 7 Michigan State, No. 15 Florida, No. 20 Louisville (twice), No. 22 Arkansas, No. 24 SMU and No. 25 Kansas.
Across the last two seasons, Duke owns the best record in Division I college basketball, at 54-5.
When playing on Jan. 26, Duke is 19-7 overall and 14-3 at home.
- The Blue Devils have won eight of their last 10 contests on Jan. 26, including five consecutive wins.
Duke registered one double-digit scoring run, scoring 13 unanswered across halftime, to increase its kill shot total for the season to 23.
The Cardinals entered Saturday's game leading the conference, and ranked 19th nationally, for scoring offense (87.8).
- Duke's defense held Louisville to a season-low 52 points.
- The 52 points were the fewest scored by the Cardinals since posting 50 against Notre Dame on Feb. 21, 2024.
- The Blue Devils limited Louisville to 24 points in the second half, its lowest output in any half this season.
Duke ranked 19th nationally and second in the league for scoring defense (65.3) entering Monday night and held the Cardinals to 13.3 points below that average.
Duke's defense, highlighted by guard play of Caleb Foster and Cayden Boozer, held Mikel Brown Jr. to just seven points on 1-of-13 (.077) shooting overall, including 1-of-7 (.143) from deep.
- The Louisville guard entered the night averaging 16.9 points on 40.3% shooting from the field and 28.6% from beyond the arc.
Duke began Monday's contest leading the ACC and ranked seventh in the country for scoring margin (+20.5).
- The Blue Devils posted the largest margin of victory in the all-time series against Louisville, surpassing the +30 margin (86-56) on Dec. 8, 1961.
The Blue Devils outrebounded Louisville by 21 (47-26) and have finished with a positive margin on the glass in 16 games this season.
- Duke began the game ranked 11th nationally and leading the league in rebounding margin (+9.6).
- The Cardinals had not been outrebounded by more than 10 this season (46-36, at Arkansas, Dec. 3, 2025).
- The 26 rebounds were the fewest by Louisville this season (30, at Tennessee, Dec. 16, 2025).
The Blue Devils outscored Louisville in four specialty stats, with leads in points off turnovers (12-7), points in the paint (42-10), second-chance points (16-5) and bench points (25-6).
- Duke has scored at least 42 points in the paint in four straight games and in five of the last six outings.
- The 10 points in the paint by Louisville were its fewest this season.
Duke finished the contest with 12 fouls and holds a record of 62-2 (.969) in four seasons under Scheyer when committing 15 or fewer fouls.
Cameron Boozer amassed 19 points and 10 rebounds for his 10th double-double of the season.
- The freshman forward also distributed four assists, a team high.
Isaiah Evans scored 15 points, including 13 in the first half, marking his eighth straight game to score in double figures.
- Evans' eight consecutive games with double-digit points represents the longest streak of his career.
Patrick Ngongba II scored 15 points, including Duke's first 10 in the second half, highlighted by an acrobatic one-handed, alley-oop dunk.
- The sophomore was a perfect 5-for-5 from the charity stripe, while adding five rebounds, two assists and two steals.
- The double-digit scoring performance was Ngongba's 16th of his career, with 15 of those coming in the first 20 games of this season.
Nikolas Khamenia netted a career-high 14 points – all coming in the second half.
- Khamenia has now scored in double figures four times this season.
- The freshman shot 3-of-4 from beyond the arc.
Maliq Brown grabbed five offensive rebounds en route to seven total boards.
- The senior also added four points, two assists and two steals.

QUOTES

"I just want to thank our fans. The fact that we had the snowstorm and all that, and the way our student body showed up. I think a third of the school was here tonight, and for me that was really special. That meant a lot to the players; meant a lot to me, and I thought they did such a great job of helping us set the stage for what was a great night by our team. I want to talk about two guys. Nik Khamenia, the toughness that he showed tonight and all season. I didn't play him as much as I probably should have got him in in that first half; it just was a little bit disjointed. He stays ready, he comes out in the second half and just was a pro's pro; made big-time plays. It all started with his defense, and then the offense came with it. And then Pat [Ngongba] in the second half. I think the dynamic of Pat and Maliq [Brown], I'm not sure what gets talked about, but the fact that we have those two guys for 40 minutes of a game. Maliq has five offensive rebounds. They're passing. And then the way that Pat came out in the start of the second half and asserted himself and was trying to call his number a couple times to get him going was big time. I can talk about every single one of our guys. A ton of respect for Louisville, who they are as a team, their offensive firepower. I just thought our defense tonight was a difference maker." - Duke head coach Jon Scheyer
"I was just staying aggressive and my teammates were able to find me in the right spots. Once I had a couple buckets falling, I was definitely starting to be more aggressive. I was just taking what the defense was giving me. We're a team and I feel like, on any night, any of us can help this team get a win." - Duke sophomore center Patrick Ngongba II
"I don't think it's hard because I came here with that kind of mindset. I came to a school like Duke so I can get better and play for a national championship with a really good team. You can go to schools and play however many minutes [you want], but you're not going to be happy because you're not winning. I'm happy. I'm happy every single day that I can come in and get better. Obviously, whatever our record is, we're just playing as a team and I love that. It's not hard for me. I'm very happy." - Duke freshman guard/forward Nikolas Khamenia, when asked if it had been hard to adjust to playing fewer minutes and working hard to earn playing time

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