Caleb Foster's injury was always going to be tough for Jon Scheyer and Duke to navigate, but the first glimpse of how tough it was going to be revealed that the Blue Devils may be in much bigger trouble than originally thought.
Foster will be out until at least the Final Four. And Duke's path to getting there without him looks arduous.
Playing their first game post-Foster injury in Thursday night's ACC Tournament quarterfinal against Florida State, it took a career-night from Isaiah Evans (32 points) for the Blue Devils to survive with a one-point win over the Seminoles.
Florida State has been playing good basketball down the stretch, winning 10 of 12 games before last night's matchup, but there will be much, much tougher obstacles in the Blue Devils' path to Indianapolis.
Freshman Nikolas Khamenia played well in an expanded role, but Duke got little from either Cayden Boozer or Darren Harris, and that very nearly cost them the game.
Duke needs more from Cayden Boozer moving forward without Caleb Foster
Cayden Boozer has been a solid player for the Blue Devils, but has not lived up to his 5-star hype in Durham. That's exacerbated by the fact that his twin brother is having an all-time great season.
More will be required from Cayden Boozer moving forward. He struggled to run the offense in place of Foster, finishing with just nine points and one assist in 22 minutes. He was 3-of-10 from the floor and finished as a -4 in those minutes. Florida State backed off of him at the three-point line to pack the paint, and it worked. He wasn't able to make them pay for it, missing all five of his attempts from deep.
Florida State giving Cayden Boozer the Hasheem Thabeet treatment from three right now 😭😭 pic.twitter.com/zlufBXSPDR
— Brandon Meeks (@MeeksKnowsBall) March 12, 2026
Boozer has shot under 27% from three this season, a steep drop from Foster's 40% clip. You can bank on other teams utilizing that same defense, and if Boozer can't knock down some shots to force them out of it, it'll be difficult for Scheyer to leave him on the court.
Harris' minutes were even worse. His nine minutes might seem curious from the outside, but Duke was -8 in that limited amount of time, and that's why he spent the bulk of the action seated on the bench instead of on the court.
Clemson will provide a major challenge to the Duke offense without Foster on Friday. The Tigers are 19th in KenPom's defensive efficiency metric, and they will force Duke's non-shooters to make some shots, or the Blue Devils might find it tough to score with the paint packed, limiting Cameron Boozer's potential effectiveness.