The Duke basketball program kicked off the 2025-26 season with a lopsided 96-71 victory over Johnny Dawkins and UCF in a charity exhibition match. The Blue Devils were led by star freshman and potential No. 1 overall 2026 NBA Draft pick, Cameron Boozer, who finished his debut in a Duke uniform with 33 points and 12 rebounds. However, despite a monster debut from the 6'9" superstar, Boozer showed he's all about the team over his own performances. Duke head coach Jon Scheyer lost his entire 2024-25 starting five to the NBA Draft, but this new squad already looks to have great chemistry as the Blue Devils hope to get back to the Final Four.
Cameron Boozer is a team-first guy, says Blue Devils need to keep getting better for the "big games"
After the Blue Devils' opening victory over the Knights, Boozer let fans know where his priorities were despite his dominant night individually.
“It’s special," Boozer said. "I think it’s more special about just getting the win. I think that was a great first matchup. UCF is a good team. They’re going to be good this year. Main thing is we want to get better so we can prepare for the big games.”
Boozer has a legitimate chance to be the best player in all of college basketball, but still puts team-oriented goals first. This will assuredly be his only year in the college game before he heads off to the NBA, so Blue Devil fans love to see his main goal being to win the big games.
The rookie finished his debut with 33 points, 12 rebounds, and four assists on 12-of-19 (63.2%) shooting from the field and 4-of-7 (57.1%) shooting from three-point range.
Scheyer once again built his squad around length and versatility, and that showed against UCF, specifically on the glass. The Blue Devils out-rebounded the Knights 18-10 on the offensive glass, which turned into 22 second chance points for Duke in comparison to seven for UCF.
Scheyer and his guys have one more exhibition matchup on Sunday, October 26th, against Tennessee, where Boozer will match up against fellow 5-star rookie Nate Ament.