After an up-and-down performance in the season-opener against Army, Duke put together a much more complete performance on Thursday night against Coastal Carolina, dominating the Chanticleers en route to a 113-52 victory. The 61-point margin of victory is the highest of the Jon Scheyer era.
Duke got off to another fast start, breaking out to a 16-0 edge before Coastal got on the board. They never really looked back from there.
Before we can move on and look forward to the Top 10 matchup on Tuesday in Chicago against Michigan State, let's take a look at the best and worst performances from Duke's dominant win over Coastal Carolina.
Buckets:
Patrick Ngongba
There's no other place to start than with Big Pat, who had a career-high 28 points against Coastal Carolina. He was 10-of-13 from the floor and connected on 2-of-3 attempts from three-point range. He was a dominant force and looked every bit like an ACC - and even National - Player of the Year candidate.
Scheyer praised Ngongba in the postgame, stating that an aggressive version of Big Pat produces the best version of his team.
It's hard to argue with the results after a 28-9 game and the best plus-minus (+53) for any Duke player in any single game since 2014.
Cayden Boozer
Not to be outdone, sophomore point guard Cayden Boozer continues to state his case to remain the team's PG1 even after Caleb Foster gets further up to speed after missing time in the preseason with an injury.
Boozer produced his first career double-double, scoring 11 points and dishing out 12 assists with only one turnover. It was the first 12+ assist night for a Duke player since Tre Jones back in 2019.
“Cayden’s passing was incredible," Scheyer said. "The job he did of when to score and when to pass - he had some great plays there. I just thought he controlled the game.”
Caleb Foster
Foster was pressing his return to action against Kansas in the final exhibition game and in the regular-season opener against Army. But against Coastal Carolina, he settled in and let the game come more naturally to him. He was exceptional off the bench.
Foster scored 15 points in 17 minutes, doing so on an efficient 5-of-7 from the field and 3-of-4 from three. His best moment came in a hilarious interaction with a Coastal player who blocked his shot. He pointed to the scoreboard, and then buried a three on the ensuing out-of-bounds play:
LOL! Coastal Carolina player talks smack after blocking Caleb Foster.
— Zion O. (@DukeNBA) November 6, 2026
Caleb points to the score with Duke up 55 and then hits a 3 next play 😂 pic.twitter.com/RqwR6LIdC1
John Blackwell
Speaking of pressing, the Wisconsin transfer had a rough debut for Duke against Army. Blackwell scored just three points on 1-of-6 from the floor. It looked like he was headed toward another rough night against Coastal Carolina with a 1-of-4 start from the floor, but the Blue Devils set him up for some easy buckets at the rim to start the second half that got him into a rhythm.
He ended up with 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting. He wasn't forcing as much as it felt like he did in the opener, and he looked a lot more like the player he's going to be on a consistent basis for Duke.
Bricks:
Free-Throw Shooting
It's hard to find much wrong with Duke's performance. But the free-throw shooting stands out.
After going 22-of-26 against Army, the Blue Devils regressed to 26-of-41 against Coastal Carolina. 15 missed free throws are tough to swallow.
Obviously, it was meaningless in a game Duke won by 61 points. But just like against Texas Tech in MSG last season, poor free-throw shooting can cost you close games. Duke projects to be in a close game on Tuesday against Michigan State, so hopefully this was a one-game blip and not the beginning of a potential weakness.
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