Three Takeaways From Duke's Exhibition Win Over UCF

The Blue Devils also hosted top recruit Deron Rippey Jr., who was swayed by the Cameron Crazies into joining them in the student section at the end of the game.

It was a slow start for the Blue Devils, but Jon Scheyer got some solid production from the bench, and his new freshman star, to lead to the blowout on the scoreboard. Here's three takeaways from Duke's first exhibition win.

1. Cameron Boozer Is As Advertised

There wasn't much doubt, but yes, Cameron Boozer is as good as everyone has said he is. Boozer stuffed the stat sheet, scoring 33 points and grabbing 12 boards to record a double-double, six of which came on the offensive end.

Boozer shot 12-of-19 from the field and had four assists. He really turned it on in the second half, after the Blue Devils led by just one going into the locker room. Scheyer made a point of running the offense through Boozer to start the half, getting him in the paint and letting him create to blow the game open.

Even on defense, the 6-foot-9 freshman looked like the best on the floor. It might not appear that way in the box score, but Boozer was physical in the post and routinely rotated through defending all five positions on the court. He truly looks like the next major star in Durham.

2. Trouble Getting In The Paint Off The Bounce

One of the issues that stood out from the game was Duke didn't have a clear-cut answer at the guard position to slash inside and find the lane. Caleb Foster earned the start at the point against UCF, but he didn't seem to have a great grasp on running the offense and pushing the action inside.

Foster is a veteran guy, so ideally he would be a bit better in that spot out of the gate, but for now, it may not be a huge issue. Cayden Boozer also struggled off the bench to push into the lane, but he still put together a solid night, collecting nine points and five assists.

Dame Sarr was out for the game, but he will be another guy Scheyer will lean on to be physical and make get in the lane to create scoring opportunities. The freshman who did have some success was Nikolas Khamenia, who scored 14 points, nine of which came from the line. He also grabbed eight boards. He will be a threat inside with his pivot moves and body control, similar to some former Blue Devils.

3. Blue Devils Launching Plenty Of Threes

Duke has size to be a problem on the glass and dominate defenses down low, but the Blue Devils were not afraid to let it fly from deep on Tuesday night.

As a whole, Duke didn't have a great night shooting from range, knocking down 12-of-35 attempts from three. Cameron Boozer led the team, shooting 4-of-7 from three in the game. A lot of the ranged shots came in the first half, before Duke got in the paint to cruise in the second half, but it's clear Scheyer wants to be aggressive from beyond the arc.

Isaiah Evans is Duke's best three-point shooter, where he took more than 80% of his shots from last season and hit on 41.3% of them. He was just 3-of-10 from three against UCF, and better nights will come for him.

Evans has developed and could be used beyond his sharpshooter role this year, but the Tuesday outing showed how big the three-point shot truly is for his game and for the blue Devils as a whole.