#5 Duke Blue Devils (5-0, 0-0 ACC) vs. Niagara Purple Eagles (2-2, 0-0 MAAC)
Friday, Nov. 21 • 7:00 p.m. ET – “Brotherhood Run”
Cameron Indoor Stadium (9,314) • Durham, N.C.
The 5-0 Duke Blue Devils return to Cameron Indoor Stadium, where they will host former Duke guard Greg Paulus and his Niagara Purple Eagles in another installment of The Brotherhood Run. Paulus had a standout four-year playing career at Duke (2005-09), including three seasons as a teammate of Jon Scheyer. A three-year starter and two-time captain, Paulus helped the Blue Devils to a 112-28 record, two ACC Tournament championships and four NCAA Tournament appearances. Paulus led the team in assists three consecutive seasons, finishing with 468 career assists – top 10 all-time at Duke – and scoring 1,193 points.
Broadcast Information
TV ACC Network
Play-by-Play Evan Lepler
Analyst Dan Bonner
Analyst Jim Boeheim
Producer Will Black
Radio Blue Devil Sports Net.
Play-by-Play David Shumate
Analyst John Roth
Engineer John Rose
In Durham 96.5 FM & 620 AM
SiriusXM 106 or 194 & SiriusXM app
Coaches & History
Duke Jon Scheyer (Duke ‘10)
Career Record / at Duke 94-22 (4th) / same
vs. Niagara First meeting
Niagara Greg Paulus (Duke ‘09)
Career Record / at School 80-100 (7th) / same
vs. Duke First meeting
Niagara Purple Eagles
Greg Paulus’s Niagara team is coming off an 11-20 season that saw them go 6-14 in conference. They’ve begun this seasons’ campaign with a 2-2 record, posting wins against Delaware State and Binghamton but falling to Duquesne and Le Moyne. Junior guard Justin Page leads the Purple Eagles early on this season with 13.8 points per game. Page is also leading Niagara in assists at 3 per game. Guard Trenton Walters is the only other double-figure scorer for Niagara, he comes in at 10.3 points per game. The leading rebounding for Niagara is senior guard Reggie Prudhomme, prudhomme is averaging 5.3 rebounds and 9.3 points per game.
Last Time Out:
Last time out, the Purple Eagles fell to Le Moyne 74-68. The teams were even at the half and both teams battled, with Le Moyne finally pulling ahead and icing the game with a three-point play with 22 seconds remaining, finishing an and-one opportunity that made it 68-62. Niagara made one final push as Prudhomme hit a three-pointer with five seconds left to cut it to 72-68, but it was not enough.
Duke Blue Devils
The Blue Devils are coming off of a 35-4 season that saw them within a game of a title shot. Duke went 19-1 in conference, winning both the regular season and the ACC Tournament.
The Blue Devils welcome in a number 1 recruiting class after their Final Four run. Jon Scheyer after losing his entire starting lineup to the NBA but retaining core pieces with experience. Leading Duke are experienced returners senior big Maliq Brown and junior guard Caleb Foster, both instrumental pieces in Duke’s run this past season. Duke also returned 3 members from last season freshman class in hot shooting Isaiah Evans, who shot a team high 41.6%. Duke also brings back Darren Harris who has reshaped his body in hopes for a larger role and Patrick Ngongba who similarly has reshaped his frame, coming into this season healthy.
Duke’s freshman class includes the Boozer brothers, Cayden and Cameron, do-it-all forward Nik Khamenia and Italian import Dame Sarr. Duke also added reserves Jack Scott and Ifeanyi Ufochukwu, from Princeton and Rice, respectively. Duke also added Sebastian Wilkins, who has elected to red shirt this season.
Duke currently sits at 5-0 on the season, posting wins against Texas and Kansas. The Blue Devils are led by a trio of double-figure scorers with Cam Boozer pacing the Blue Devils offensively with 21.6 points per game, Boozer is also averaging 10.4 boards and 4.4 assists – both are also team highs. Isaiah Evans averages 13.6 points per contest to go along with 3.4 rebounds and 2 assists. Sophomore Patrick Ngongba rounds out the double-figure scorers for Duke at 11.6 points per game, the big man out of Virginia also adds 6.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists.
Last Time Out:
The Blue Devils struggled early taking care of the basketball against Kansas but rallied to end the first half with an 8 point lead, on their way to a 12 point victory 78-66.
Stats Comparison
| G | MP | FG | FGA | FG% | 2P | 2PA | 2P% | 3P | 3PA | 3P% | FT | FTA | FT% | ORB | DRB | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | PF | PTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duke | 5 | 40.0 | 30.8 | 62.0 | .497 | 20.4 | 32.8 | .622 | 10.4 | 29.2 | .356 | 20.4 | 27.8 | .734 | 13.2 | 31.8 | 45.0 | 20.0 | 7.6 | 5.0 | 10.0 | 17.0 | 92.4 |
| Niagara | 4 | 40.0 | 22.8 | 52.3 | .435 | 15.0 | 31.8 | .472 | 7.8 | 20.5 | .378 | 13.3 | 18.0 | .736 | 6.5 | 23.8 | 30.3 | 13.0 | 7.0 | 3.3 | 11.0 | 14.8 | 66.5 |
Projected Starters
Duke Blue Devils
G Caleb Foster 6’4, 205lbs Jr.
G Isaiah Evans 6’6, 180lbs So.
G Dame Sarr 6’8, 190lbs Fr.
F Cameron Boozer 6’9, 250lbs Fr.
C Patrick Ngongba 6’11, 250lbs So.
Niagara Purple Eagles
G Reggie Prudhomme 6’0, 170lbs Gs.
G Josiah Sabino 6’4, 195lbs Jr.
G Justin Page 6’5, 185lbs Jr.
F Justin Hawkins 6’7, 220lbs Sr.
F Will Shortt 6’8, 215lbs So.
Final Thoughts
This game against Niagara gives the Blue Devils some opportunities to again guard the perimeter against a team that makes a good percentage of their shots there. The Purple Eagles are shooting almost 38% from 3 on about 20 attempts per game. Reggie Prudhomme has shown the ability to knock down 3’s in bunches, averaging 4.5 attempts per game and hitting half of them so far this season.
Duke will obviously have an advantage in talent over Niagara, but this also gives Duke the chance to start a game quickly, something they’ve been unable to do so far this season. Keys for Duke are very simple, take care of the basketball, get some crispness on offense, Cam Boozer needs to establish himself and play inside out, rather than outside in – shot selection will be important for the freshman all season lone. Defensively, Duke needs to play much better transition defense, they’ve been a mess in that area.