It's safe to say Duke basketball understood and executed the assignment on Monday night, as the No. 3-ranked Blue Devils (24-2, 13-1 ACC) tallied a 101-64 home victory over the unranked Syracuse Orange (15-12, 6-8 ACC). They improved to 13-0 in Cameron Indoor Stadium this season and extended their overall winning streak to three outings since the deflating 71-68 road loss at the hands of the archrival UNC Tar Heels eight days ago.
ALSO READ: Duke Home Winning Streak Nearing Historic Territory
Syracuse's elite rim protection was on full display in the early going. The Orange blocked two Blue Devil shot attempts in the paint before the first media timeout in the first half.
Even so, Duke didn't shy away from attacking the basket en route to taking an 11-9 lead into the second break, with five players having already put their names in the scoring column and without any of them having drained a three at that juncture.
Duke basketball sophomore wing Isaiah Evans heated up with six points in just over two minutes of action. And the Blue Devils built a 21-12 advantage to force a Syracuse timeout ahead of the under-8 timeout.
Slim's a bucket pic.twitter.com/DQAwM2shcb
– Duke Men's Basketball (@DukeMBB) February 17, 2026
Not long after that, freshman wing Dame Sarr electrified the Cameron Crazies with a smooth dunk in transtion. Evans followed suit with a slam of his own in the halfcourt setting. Rookie power forward Cameron Boozer then chipped in via a splash from downtown, bumping the Blue Devils' lead to 28-17 with just over six minutes to play in the first half while making the program's 30th straight win at home begin to look inevitable.
Jon Scheyer's Blue Devils then cooled off for a bit but managed to heat up in time to secure a 40-24 halftime lead over Adrian Autry's Orange.
Cameron Boozer recorded a double-double in the first half alone, finishing the half with 12 points and 10 rebounds while shooting 5-for-7 from the field.
Cam's got a double-double at the break
12 points
10 boards
5-7 FG pic.twitter.com/bGG3XCVxUC– Duke Men's Basketball (@DukeMBB) February 17, 2026
Duke Basketball Begins Second Half Where It Left Off
By putting together an 8-2 run across the first 90 seconds of the second half, the Blue Devils pushed their lead to 48-26. Syracuse was left without much of a choice but to call another timeout, appearing pretty much out of answers.
Dame steal
Dame dime
Slim triple pic.twitter.com/n3eFpWyDs1– Duke Men's Basketball (@DukeMBB) February 17, 2026
Duke continued to soar. At the under-12 timeout in the second half, following a pair of threes from freshman forward Nikolas Khamenia and another easy layup courtesy of Cameron Boozer, the Blue Devils enjoyed a 68-40 lead and looked well on their way to posting a lopsided final score.
With 2024-25 Duke basketball teammates Kon Knueppel, Cooper Flagg, Sion James, and Khaman Maluach in the building, five Blue Devils reached double-digit points in the contest: Cameron Boozer (22 points, 12 rebounds, two assists, 8-for-10 shooting from the field), Isaiah Evans (21 points, two rebounds, one steal, 3-for-6 from deep), sophomore center Patrick Ngongba II (12 points, seven boards, two dimes), freshman guard Cayden Boozer (12 points, three assists, two steals), and Nikolas Khamenia (14 points, two rebounds, 4-for-5 shooting from the field).
Kon arrived just in time. pic.twitter.com/I7Cha4RbG1
– Matt Giles (@MattGilesBD) February 17, 2026
The Blue Devils will now prepare for their primetime showdown against the No. 1 Michigan Wolverines (24-1, 14-1 Big Ten). Duke and Michigan square off at the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., at 6:30 p.m. ET Saturday (ESPN).
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/duke as Duke Basketball Attack Proves Too Powerful for Syracuse.