CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Cameron Boozer attacked the paint again and again, with the Atlantic Coast Conference championship on the line. Duke’s star freshman has repeatedly found himself with unusual results.
Saw his ball knocked out of the air by Virginia’s Ugunna Oyenso.
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“Well,” Boozer admitted, “I was definitely frustrated.”
The matchup between the 6-foot-10, 250-pound Boozer and the 7-foot, 245-pound Oyenso was highlighted in No. 1 Duke’s 74-70 victory over the No. 10 Cavaliers in the ACC Tournament championship game on Saturday night. Oyenso was the key to what turned out to be his worst shooting performance of the season for the high-end NBA prospect.
On Saturday, Boozer ranked eighth nationally in scoring (22.8) and shot 57.9 percent from the field. He ended up with a season-low 13 points on a season-worst 3-of-17 shooting from the field. Oyenso made four field goals, three of which came in the second half.
Boozer still ended up earning tournament MVP honors with eight rebounds and eight assists, but struggled all night to stabilize the interior offense that has helped Duke overwhelm opponents since January.
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the battle inside
Oyenso finished with nine blocks, including seven in the second half, breaking the single-game block record held by former Wake Forest big man and NBA star Tim Duncan.
“First and foremost I want to support him,” Boozer said. “He’s a great defender, a great shot blocker. I think I can learn a lot from this game, but I just want to keep attacking, keep attacking, figure it out, find other ways to win. Obviously, my shots weren’t falling. I wasn’t getting into a rhythm. But I had to find a way.”
Boozer shot a season-low 17.6 percent from the field, down from 25 percent (3-for-12) against Texas at the start of the season. It also marked the third time this year that Boozer has allowed just three field goals.
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Two of those games came against the Cavaliers, who held Boozer to 6-for-26 shooting (23.1 percent) two weeks ago at Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium.
However, the Blue Devils (32-2) won both games and now head to March Madness ready to claim the No. 1 seed.
“One thing about me is I’m really good at timing, so when we played them at Duke, I was a little bit off,” Oyenso said. “So going into today’s game, I thought, OK, this is what I have to do, keep my footing and not jump. That really helped my timing.
“Cam, he does a lot of fake shots. That’s his thing. So I was able to stay on my feet when he faked shots, which helped my timing.”
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Boozer was able to challenge opposing big men with his ability to step outside the arc, even serving as a playmaker and de facto point guard in some of Duke’s games. This allows him to drive past defenders off the dribble and then prove he’s strong enough to finish or beat them with stepbacks and spin moves in the paint.
Or, if he doesn’t finish the game, he often goes to the free throw line.
Yet Oyenso has repeatedly shut down those areas in a way that no one else has, not even Michigan’s third-ranked front in a big non-conference game last month. He also avoided foul trouble, picking up a foul with 6:33 left in the second half despite Boozer making multiple contact attempts on him.
“Look, no matter how he plays, we’re going to keep going to him,” coach Jon Schell said, standing on the court surrounded by falling confetti as players began hacking away at the net after the win. “He doesn’t have the best stuff. But to be fair, we rely on him a lot. We’ve played three games in a row. They’re loaded and they have a great frontcourt.”
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Finish
Boozer’s best performance was saved for Duke when he attacked Oyenso in the final 30 seconds to help Duke maintain a two-point lead. Oyenso blocked his shot again – his 21st in three games in Charlotte – only for Boozer to gain control of the rebound.
But instead of forcing the score back, Boozer kicked the ball out, allowing Duke to continue running the clock. Isaiah Evans followed with a pair of free throws to push the lead to 72-68 before Boozer capped the game with two decisive free throws with 3.9 minutes left to give Scheyer his third ACC Championship in four seasons.
“Give them credit because they protected the rim probably better than anybody we played,” Scheyer said. “You just trust that he’s going to get through it, and he does.”
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