I like to think that someone, maybe Jon Scheyer, maybe another Duke assistant coach, or perhaps even Cameron Boozer's own inner monologue, had a simple message for the superstar freshman at halftime of Duke's 2nd Round matchup against TCU:
"Hey Cam, you remember you're the National Player of the Year, right?"
Because Boozer only scored two points in the first half against TCU. Worse yet, he only took a single shot. Duke held a slim halftime lead as a result of Boozer's sluggish start and a questionable flagrant foul call that allowed the Horned Frogs to claw back into the game.
If Duke is going to go down, it needs to go down swinging. And it needs to be Boozer throwing the haymakers.
That's exactly what he did in the final 20 minutes, scoring 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting with five rebounds and two assists. He landed repeated body blows to TCU, ultimately knocking the Horned Frogs to the canvas.
Not bad for just a half of work.
Cameron Boozer's big second-half propeled Duke past TCU and into the Sweet 16
Duke's opening round win over Siena was shaky, and many questioned whether the Blue Devils were legitimate national title contenders or not as a result.
The first half against TCU only made those questions even louder. Despite the return of sophomore center Patrick Ngongba, the Blue Devils held only a four-point halftime lead over 9-seeded TCU.
But led by Boozer's monster second half, Duke outscored TCU 43-24 and ran away with an 81-58 win.
"We can't let the whole half go by without him getting a shot," Jon Scheyer said after the game. "He impacts the game in all ways. Defense, rebounding, and obviously, how he asserted himself in the second half. That's how we got separation."
Boozer finished with 19-11-4 and added 4 stocks. TCU's defensive game plan was obvious: double-team Boozer on the catch, and force the ball out of his hands. He was too passive in the first half. In the second half, he just asserted his will. If TCU wanted to double-team him, so be it. He'd just attack the double off the bounce and get to the rim anyway. And he did. Time and time again.
Future Duke opponents watched the first half and thought perhaps that Jamie Dixon had discovered Boozer's kryptonite.
The second half made it obvious that no such thing exists.