Duke looks like a team that can win not only the ACC, but everything worth winning
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Duke dominated Clemson with defense, looking very much like the nation’s best team.
- Boozer brothers starred, combining for 40 of Duke’s 73 points in 12-point win.
- No. 1 seed Duke and No. 2 seed Virginia to meet in ACC tourney final at 8:30 pm Saturday.
Duke looked every inch the No. 1 team in the country Friday night in Charlotte, drubbing Clemson, 73-61, in an ACC semifinal.
Even without being totally healthy — and few teams are at this point — the Blue Devils are so good that it’s hard to imagine them not making it to at least the Final Four in April. Although that final score looks relatively close, the game really didn’t feel that way for the final 30 minutes, as Duke dominated with defense before a crowd of 17,711 at the Spectrum Center.
The Blue Devils (31-2) will face Virginia (29-4) in the Spectrum Center at 8:30 p.m. Saturday, and they will and should be a heavy favorite to win their league-high 24th tournament title.
After getting their “bad” game out of the way in the quarterfinals and escaping Florida State, 80-79, top-seeded Duke drilled No. 5 seed Clemson so thoroughly that in the first half it felt like a victory any time the Tigers made a field goal.
Clemson — playing its third game in three days — shot only 32.7% from the field.
“Our defense was terrific,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said.
Duke was up 41-22 at halftime, and that was after Virginia routed Miami by a 22-point margin in the first semifinal. Clemson (24-10) didn’t make a single shot from the field for the final 7:44 of the first half, when Duke increased a one-point lead to 19 and all but ended the game.
Clemson coach Brad Brownell noted that the Tigers had to devise their third game plan in three days, a product of winning those first two games in Charlotte.
“We didn’t get to the hotel until after (1 a.m.) and now you’re trying to figure out how to score against Duke in 24 hours,” Brownell said. “We’ve been trying to figure out how to score against Wake and Carolina. It’s challenging. They’re unbelievable defensively. They’ve got great length. They’ve got great closing speed. Maliq Brown — (ACC) Defensive Player of the Year, (Cameron) Boozer — really smart. They’re very well-schooled and coached, and we’re just not quite as dynamic to be able to do enough sometimes to affect that right now. I’ve got to help our team more.”
If you were a general basketball fan, Friday night was a downer. After Thursday night’s Charlotte craziness, in which both ACC Tournament quarterfinals in the evening session were decided by a single point, Friday night instead brought back-to-back blowouts, as Virginia rolled past Miami in the first game.
But if you were a Duke or Virginia fan, you were happy. The Nos. 1 and 2 seeds in this tournament advanced easily, and will now play for the title. The two best teams in the league are playing for the championship, and that should (maybe) make for a good game. I say maybe because Duke whipped Virginia by 26 points in the teams’ only meeting this year.
“That game … it feels like a million years ago,” Scheyer said.
Even without injured starters Caleb Foster and Patrick Ngongba II, the Blue Devils have more talent on the floor than any team they play, and that will be the case throughout the NCAA Tournament, too.
Duke got big games from both the Boozer brothers Friday, as Cameron had 24 points and 14 rebounds and Cayden had 16 points.
“The Boozer brothers hurt us today,” Brownell said.
“They’re winners in every way,” Scheyer said.
If you’re a longtime ACC fan and feel like you’ve seen this movie before, it’s because you have. Duke loves the tournament being in Charlotte. The Blue Devils have won six ACC Tournament titles in the Queen City (2025, 2019, 2002, 2000, 1999 and 1992).
They’re likely to add a seventh Charlotte championship on Saturday.
