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2 hours ago
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A lot of people have the Duke Blue Devils finally coming out with a March Madness victory in their brackets. Why wouldn't they? Jon Scheyer has proven himself as a top head coach in college and his squad is loaded. But, things took quite a turn when the first-seeded ACC giants fell massively behind in the first half against the 16th-seeded Siena Saints. When all things started to turn south, it was not Cam Boozer, Isaiah Evans, or even Maliq Brown that the faithful turned to the most. Instead, Cayden Boozer rose to the occasion.
Cayden shines into reliable star in Duke vs. Siena
Coach Scheyer had his faith on both the Boozer twins along with the Duke basketball fans. The Blue Devils were trailing 43-32 in the first half and shades of the FDU Knights' upsets against the Purdue Boilermakers back in 2023 started to show. Cayden and Cam were barely pulled out of the game until the job was done. By the end of it all, Cam had played 38 minutes while Cayden was on the floor for an astounding 39 minutes.
The Duke basketball head coach had nothing but praise for Cayden Boozer after their intense 71-65 win, via CBS Sports.
"Well, he's been terrific all year. Obviously, when Caleb Foster was going down, his emergence even more has been terrific. We knew he had it in him, 100% percent. The composure to me, for this to be his first NCAA Tournament and ACC tournament. When it's the toughest, that's when he's at his best," Scheyer said about Cayden.
In those 39 minutes, his handprints were in every possession. Duke's number 2 ended up scoring 16 points while shooting at an insane 56.25% clip from the field on 16 shots. On offense, he was also getting everyone involved as a facilitator and this netted him five assists to keep Coach Scheyer's offense rolling. Defensively, Cayden also had a masterclass. He grabbed two rebounds to finish possessions while also removing Siena's momentum with his two steals.
There is still much to be desired about his outside shot because he only knocked down a single three-pointer out of four attempts. However, the effectiveness on the floor despite Cam being the leading Duke scorer proved that Cayden will also be a star for the NBA team that picks him up. A lot of Duke fans are proud today but no one is surely happier than Carlos Boozer because Cam and Cayden Boozer were the reasons that they avoided an upset.
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