In the aftermath of Duke's 74-70 win over Virginia in the ACC Tournament championship game on Saturday night, head coach Jon Scheyer and star guard Isaiah Evans had a playful back-and-forth that perfectly encapsulated the close-knit nature of this group.
Down two starters, Duke found a way to win the ACC Tournament, earning wins over Florida State, Clemson, and Virginia to effectively clinch the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.
In the postgame, Scheyer was effusive in his praise for freshman guard Cayden Boozer, who played all 40 minutes and scored 16 points to go along with five rebounds and four assists. He also couldn't help but throw a jab at Cameron Boozer and Isaiah Evans in the process, playfully stating that the star duo "were just okay."
Evans, without skipping a beat, fired back at his head coach:
"So was your coaching."
Jon Scheyer: "Cayden Boozer put us on his back today... Cam and Isaiah were just okay."
— Karter Baughan (@karterb8) March 15, 2026
Isaiah Evans: "So was your coaching" 😂 pic.twitter.com/2XuURA6JPa
Duke overcame an off night from Cameron Boozer to beat Virginia
It speaks to how good Cameron Boozer has been that a 13-8-8 stat line is an off night for him. But Virginia's defense frustrated him. Cavs center Ugonna Onyenso blocked nine shots, and Boozer finished just 3-of-17 from the field.
With no Patrick Ngongba, Boozer had to play up to the five for the majority of the evening. Maliq Brown only logged 16 minutes, meaning Boozer spent most of the game as the only true "big" on the court.
But his brother came to the rescue with arguably his best performance of the season. Evans was more than "okay," as Scheyer described, leading the Blue Devils with 20 points and hitting 4-of-8 from three. The rest of the team shot just 4-of-21 from downtown.
Nikolas Khamenia played well off the bench, too, scoring nine points and securing six rebounds (three offensively).
Without Ngongba and Caleb Foster, Duke was forced into play lineup combinations that didn't log many regular-season minutes together. And it was still able to conquer the ACC Tournament and face some much-needed adversity heading into next week's NCAA Tournament.