Cameron Boozer leads Duke's rally to beat No. 20 Louisville

Duke Blue Devils forward Cameron Boozer (12) posts up against Louisville Cardinals guard J'vonne Hadley (1) during the second at KFC Yum! Center. Jamie Rhodes-Imagn Images

Cameron Boozer scores 27 as No. 6 Duke storms back to beat No. 20 Louisville

By Samuel Stubbs | Last updated Jan 6, 2026 9:53 PM ET

No. 6 Duke trailed by as many as 12 in the first half and by nine at halftime, but the Blue Devils (14-1, 3-0 ACC) stormed back in the second half to take down No. 20 Louisville (11-4, 1-2 ACC) inside the KFC Yum! Center on Tuesday.

Duke outscored Louisville 46-26 in the second half and pulled away in the final minutes to secure an 84-73 victory.

Freshman forward Cameron Boozer was the star of the show, scoring a game-high 27 points on 10-of-12 shooting, including 3-of-4 from beyond the arc.

Ryan Conwell led the Cardinals with 24 points on 8-of-19 shooting.

CAM AND1⃣ pic.twitter.com/6kpbVgStGh
— Duke Men’s Basketball (@DukeMBB) January 7, 2026

Perhaps the most important aspect of Tuesday's game was the free-throw line. Duke made 19 free throws on 28 attempts, while Louisville made nine of its 12 shots from the charity stripe.

Louisville is in trouble

It's certainly not time for head coach Pat Kelsey and Louisville to panic, but the Cardinals are in the midst of a worrying stretch.

Louisville lost a pair of marquee nonconference games against No. 15 Arkansas and No. 21 Tennessee before dropping a stunner to Stanford on Jan. 2. The Cardinals are just 4-4 over their last eight games, and a win over an overmatched Boston College squad on Saturday would help get Louisville back on track.

Samuel Stubbs

Hailing from the same neck of the woods as NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin, Samuel has been covering NASCAR for Yardbarker since February 2024. He has been a member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) since October of 2024. When he’s not writing about racing, Samuel covers Arkansas Razorback basketball for Yardbarker

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