No. 3 Duke Blitzes Syracuse in Second Half for 101-64 Win

Monday, February 16

Durham, N.C.

7 p.m.

Duke University

24-2,13-1ACC

101

Syracuse

15-12,6-8ACC

Syracuse

Duke

101

Isaiah Evans celebrates against Syracuse

No. 3 Duke Blitzes Syracuse in Second Half for 101-64 Win

2/16/2026 9:20:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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

DURHAM, N.C. – No. 3 Duke scored 61 points in the second half, defeating Syracuse 101-64 on Monday, Feb. 16. The Blue Devils (24-2, 13-1) dished 21 assists, while only committing a season-low four turnovers, and eclipsed 100 points for the fourth time this season.

Cameron Boozer posted a 22-point, 12-rebound, double-double to lead all players in points and boards. Four other Blue Devils joined Boozer in double-figures, with Isaiah Evans scoring 21 points, Nikolas Khamenia matching his career high with 14, and the duo of Cayden Boozer and Patrick Ngongba II both scoring 12. Maliq Brown led all players in assists with five, and contributed across the stat sheet with six points, three rebounds and two steals.

As a team, Duke scored 52 points in the paint, the highest point total in the category against a Power Five team this season. The Blue Devils swept the specialty stats, including a +23 advantage in points off the bench (39-16) and a +13 margin in points off turnovers (17-4).

HOW IT HAPPENED

Syracuse opened the scoring on the first possession, before a free throw by Isaiah Evans got Duke on the board. A defensive stop led to the Blue Devils' first made shot, courtesy of Cameron Boozer.
The Orange took a 9-7 lead with a fast-break dunk, shortly before the first media timeout of the evening. Boozer tied the score with a layup and his brother, Cayden Boozer, gave Duke the lead, 11-9, on the Blue Devils' next trip down the floor.
Two makes from the free-throw line by Maliq Brown, followed by a three-point play courtesy of Evans, grew Duke's lead to seven, 16-9. Evans connected on Duke's first three-pointer of the night, forcing a Syracuse timeout with 8:40 on the clock.
An extended 16-3 run by Duke, capped by a Dame Sarr slam, gave the Blue Devils their first double-digit lead, 23-12.
Syracuse drew within five, 29-24, with three minutes before halftime. Duke responded with 11 consecutive points to go into the break up by 16, 40-24.
The scoring run reached 13 with a layup by Patrick Ngongba II to start the second half, before Syracuse snapped the streak on its first possession of the second frame.
Consecutive trifectas, via Caleb Foster and Evans, triggered a Syracuse timeout less than 90 seconds into the half.
Cameron Boozer secured his 20-point outing before the under-16 timeout and Duke remained in front by more than 20 points, 58-37. The Blue Devils reeled off a stretch of 10 consecutive makes, punctuated by a Nikolas Khamenia triple, and Duke's lead sat at 28 points, 68-40, with just under 12 minutes remaining.
The Blue Devils remained in control for the closing 10 minutes of the game, building a lead as large as 34 en route to the eventual 101-64 victory.

NOTES

The Blue Devils have won 35 of their last 37 games against conference opponents.
Duke has won 30 consecutive home games, including 17 straight against conference opponents at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
The Blue Devils lead the all-time series against Syracuse, 18-6.
- Duke has won 11 straight and 13 of the last 14 against the Orange.
- The 37-point win on Monday night is the largest margin of victory by either team in the series.
Duke is 22-14 when playing on Feb. 16, and is 12-2 when playing at home on the date with 12 consecutive victories.
- The Blue Devils have won seven of their last eight games played on Feb. 16.
Across the last two seasons, Duke owns the best record in Division I college basketball, at 59-6.
Duke shot 38-of-61 (.623) from the field, its best shooting performance of the season.
The Blue Devils exploded on offense in the second half, scoring 61 points following intermission, its fourth game this season with at least 50 points in the second half and second with at least 60.
- The Blue Devils shot 23-of-32 (.719) from the field in the second frame, setting a new season benchmark for field goal percentage in the second half. The previous high was 17-of-24 (.708) at Louisville on Jan. 6.
- After missing the first shot of the second half, Duke reeled off 13 consecutive made field goals across nearly 10 minutes of action.
The 101 points are the most scored against a conference foe this season and the most by Duke in a game against Syracuse.
- Duke has scored in triple digits four times this season.
Duke dished 21 assists with only four turnovers, for a 5.25 assist-turnover ratio.
- The four turnovers are a season-low for Duke and the Blue Devils eclipsed 20 dimes for the first time since Jan. 3.
The Orange entered Monday's game averaging 76.5 points per game, but were held to 64, 12.5 below their season average.
- Duke's defense has held all but two of their 26 opponents below their scoring average.
Entering Monday night, Duke topped the ACC and ranked ninth nationally for rebounding margin (9.8).
- The Blue Devils outrebounded the Orange by 10 (39-29) and have finished with a positive margin on the glass in 22 games this season.
- Duke has finished with a double-digit margin on the glass in 13 games this season.
The Orange averaged 12.4 fast-break points per game, second in the ACC, but were limited to just eight by Duke's defense.
Duke registered one scoring run of at least 10 points, increasing its kill shot season total to 29.
The Blue Devils swept the specialty stats, with leads in points off turnovers (17-4), points in the paint (52-30), second-chance points (22-14), fast-break points (12-8) and bench points (39-16).
- As part of Duke's 52 points in the paint, Duke tallied nine dunks on Monday night.
Duke finished the contest with 13 fouls and holds a record of 67-3 (.957) in four seasons under Jon Scheyer when committing 15 or fewer fouls.
Cameron Boozer scored 22 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, his 14th total double-double of his season and eighth with at least 20 points.
- The freshman secured his double-double in the opening 20 minutes, with 12 points and 10 boards in the first half, his first double-double this season in the first half.
- Boozer has led all players in points and rebounds 11 times this season. The only two freshmen to do so more than 11 times in the last 30 years are Michael Beasley (18 times) and Kevin Durant (12 times).
Isaiah Evans scored 21 points, his third consecutive game scoring at least 17 and second with at least 20 in the same span.
- The sophomore connected on three 3-pointers and has made at least three from deep in each of Duke's last three games.
- When Evans makes at least three triples, Duke is 13-0 this season and 24-0 in Evans' career.
Nikolas Khamenia matched his career high with 14 points, shooting 5-for-7 overall, including a perfect 3-for-3 from deep.
- Khamenia led Duke in plus-minus, at +33.
Cayden Boozer scored 12 points for the second consecutive game, going 5-of-6 from the field and 2-for-3 from beyond the arc.
- The freshman also dished four assists with no turnovers, while swiping a team-high three steals.
Patrick Ngongba II rounded out the double-figure scoring with 12 points, while grabbing seven rebounds.
Maliq Brown contributed across the stat sheet, with six points, five assists, three rebounds and two steals.
- Brown's five dimes matched a season high, which he had set twice previously already this season.
Dame Sarr matched his career high in blocks, swatting a team-high two shot attempts.

QUOTES

"Really proud of our team. I love the sharing that we had: 21 assists and 4 turnovers. I think that tells the story. I thought our defensive effort was high level, and I'm just proud of our guys on the one-day prep. We didn't do anything on the floor; it was all walk-through and film. I thought they had great attention to detail, and it was a great win for us to get our 24th win and 13th conference win. Really, really proud of them." - Duke head coach Jon Scheyer
"Offensively, I feel like we just played inside-out. We were trying to get paint touches first and then kick out for open threes, not trying to take contested shots, just take the easy ones. I've just been trying to get a bucket any way I can, but just not trying to settle on jumpers, trying to get to the free-throw line, trying to get layups, and just show off my overall game." - Duke sophomore guard/forward Isaiah Evans

UP NEXT

No. 3 Duke travels to Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., for a non-conference clash with No. 1 Michigan on Saturday, Feb. 21. The Blue Devils (24-2, 13-1 ACC) and Wolverines (24-1, 14-1 B1G) tip off at 6:30 p.m., on ESPN.

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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