The Blue Devils pulled away late against the Jayhawks for a 78-66 win in the Champions Classic. However, what concerns emerged from the victory?
On face value, it appears that the Blue Devils comfortably defeated Kansas, but that was far from the truth, as it was a close game in the final minutes.
Now, by all means, the sky is not falling, and in the end, it was a win against one of the blue bloods in college basketball, but there are some worrisome concerns from Duke’s perspective.
Despite the win, here are some things to take into account from the Blue Devils’ victory over Kansas on Tuesday.
Both of these teams are the youngest and rawest squads in the entire country, and are led by superstar talents in Darryn Peterson and Cameron Boozer.
Unfortunately for Kansas, Peterson was forced to miss his third consecutive game due to a hamstring strain. Peterson, who is projected to be selected within the top three picks in the 2026 NBA Draft, is averaging 21.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 3.0 assists while shooting 60% from the field and 50% from beyond the arc.
That production was absent from the Jayhawks’ backcourt, which led to the Blue Devils entering the contest as double-digit favorites.
Despite that being the case, Kansas found itself down by three points with five minutes left in the game. Duke had its full complement of healthy and available pieces for the historic matchup. Could the Jayhawks be better than what many expected this season? Absolutely. But without its clear-cut best player, Kansas had an opportunity to steal an impressive win while being short-handed.
A win is a win, and this is not a call to sell your Duke stock, but the performance was not as impressive as the final score indicates.
Boozer is only a freshman and has only played in five collegiate games in his young career, but his resume consists of two underwhelming performances against legitimate programs.
The statistical output indicates that the star freshman has been utterly unstoppable, but the shooting efficiency tells us otherwise. In the three games against Western Carolina, Army, and Indiana State, Boozer averaged 25 points, 9.6 rebounds, and 4.6 assists while shooting 25-of-39 from the field (64.1%) and 7-of-16 from beyond the arc (43.7%).
Meanwhile, against Kansas and Texas – who we consider as top-end basketball programs – Boozer is averaging 16.5 points, 11.5 rebounds, and 3.5 assists, but the shot-making ability has been underwhelming. In those two outings, Boozer has shot 10-of-29 from the field (34.4%), including 1-of-8 from beyond the arc (12.5%).
This does not mean that Boozer will struggle throughout the season. It has only been five career games, but the expected-to-be top-three pick in the 2026 NBA Draft has to play better against top-flight opponents, which will be a common scenario with ACC play starting next month.
