Cameron and Cayden Boozer headlined another stellar recruiting class for No. 5 Duke, but their debut didn’t exactly live up to the hype.
The twin brothers had a rough first half but responded in the second half to help the Blue Devils avoid the upset and beat Texas, 75-60, in the season-opening Dick Vitale Invitational.
The sons of former Blue Devil and former NBA veteran Carlos Boozer followed in their father’s footsteps, and their arrival to Durham came to much acclaim. Both were highly ranked recruits, with Cameron the No. 3 prospect in 2025 that led Duke’s No. 1 recruiting class, according to 247Sports.
Cameron Boozer had great showings in the two exhibition games played against Central Florida and Tennessee, but it was far from that out of the gate on Tuesday, Nov. 4.
He struggled to find a rhythm in the first half against the Longhorns, getting hounded by the defense and unable to find good shot selections. He missed every single shot attempt he took with an 0-for-7 mark from the field and missed his lone free throw attempt. The same went for Cayden, who came off the bench and missed his one shot attempt in the first 20 minutes.
‘It wasn’t easy in the first half. He wasn’t happy with how he was playing,’ Duke coach Jon Scheyer said postgame.
It was no surprise Texas led by one point at the half, capitalizing on an inconsistent Blue Devil offense besides Isaiah Evans. The Blue Devils had a legitimate chance of suffering its first season-opening loss this century, with the last one occurring in 1999.
Luckily, the halftime break was just what the Boozers and Duke needed.
Cameron Boozer came out of the locker room with determination. He scored the first official points of his career with a pair of free throws, and his first made bucket came on a driving dunk. From that point on, Boozer made life difficult for the Texas defense.
He was driving to the bucket and drawing fouls, accounting for the first six points of the second half that gave Duke a lead it didn’t let go off for the remainder of the game.
The Longhorns put Duke into the bonus just eight minutes into the second half, and Boozer was constantly finding himself at the free throw line. Seeing the ball go in the hope gave him confidence to put his mark on the game, crashing the boards to run the offense and get the ball near the bucket.
Cameron Boozer finished with 15 points – all of which came in the second half – with nine of them coming from the charity stripe. He also added a game-high 13 rebounds to become the fifth Duke freshman in the last 30 seasons with a double-double in their debut game. He was 3-for-12 from the field.
‘My team did a great job picking me up at halftime. Scheyer did a great job drawing us a place for me to get going and my teammates found me,’ Boozer said.
Cayden Boozer had a much quieter game off the bench, finishing with two points, three rebounds and two assists in 14 minutes of action.
What helped the Boozer twins’ struggles was the play of Evans. He accounted for 14 of the first 23 points for the Blue Devils, and he finished with a game-high 21 points.
Texas’ offense was unable to keep up with Duke, getting it to a three-point game with nine minutes left before the Blue Devils responded with an 8-0 run that put it out of reach. Duke has now won 26 consecutive season openers.
