Duke Knocks Off #1 Michigan, 70-63

Duke and Michigan met at the summit Saturday evening and while the game was not always pretty, the efforts on both sides were stunning as Duke pulled out a 70-63 win.

This was an amazing game from beginning to end, with both teams giving it everything they had.

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The first half was just about dead even. Michigan got a great 20 minutes out of Yaxel Lendeborg, who finished with 16 points on 6-9/2-4. But Aday Mara picked up three fouls in the first half, and that clearly hurt Michigan.

The Blue Devils shot 12-26/4-12 and were obviously not at peak efficiency, but like Michigan, played extremely hard. Caleb Foster and Isaiah Evans both picked up two first-half fouls and their minutes were limited. However, there is minimal drop-off, if any, when Cayden Boozer comes in for Foster, and Nik Khamenia played really well, too.

Duke made several high-IQ plays, including an in-traffic steal in the lane by Khamenia and an unbelievable play by Pat Ngongba, who knocked the ball away from 6-2 LJ Cason on the perimeter, which resulted in a Michigan turnover. Cason had 7 off the bench for Michigan while Morez Johnson had 6 first-half points.

Duke’s first-half scoring was much more balanced. Cameron Boozer had 9 and everyone else at least three points except for Maliq Brown, who had 2, and Cayden Boozer, who did not score but ran the team well.

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Near the end of the half, Cadeau, who to that point had shot 0-3, all three-point attempts, went to the bench with an elbow issue.

In general, Duke played well, taking a 35-33 lead to the locker room, despite the Wolverines shooting 52% overall to Duke’s 46%. However, Duke shot 7-10 from the line to Michigan’s 2-6.

The second half was just as riveting.

Duke never trailed after halftime and that was with some adversity too. Cameron Boozer picked up his third foul with 15:01 to go and then got his fourth with 8:42 and went to the bench for several minutes. Duke was up 53-46 when he sat.

Michigan cut the lead to 57-53 when Boozer…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/duke-knocks-off-1-michigan-022157677.html

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Publish date : 2026-02-22 02:21:00

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