No. 4 Duke dominates No. 20 Louisville for season sweep
Cameron Boozer scored 19 points for No. 4 Duke, which blew out visiting No. 20 Louisville for an 83-52 win Monday in Durham, N.C.
The Blue Devils (19-1, 8-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) upped their winning streak to eight games and swept the two-game regular-season series from the Cardinals (14-6, 4-4).
Duke won 84-73 at Louisville on Jan. 6 thanks to a big rally in the second half. This time, the Blue Devils did not need that late surge as they led 38-28 at halftime. Instead, they used the second 20 minutes to pull away and give Louisville its worst loss under second-year coach Pat Kelsey.
Boozer added 10 rebounds to garner the 10th double-double of his freshman season and led Duke with four assists.
Isaiah Evans scored 13 of his 15 points in the first half, while Patrick Ngongba scored 10 of his 15 in the first three minutes of the second half. Nikolas Khamenia made 5 of 6 shots, including 3 of 4 3-point attempts, for 14 points.
Louisville did not have Mikel Brown Jr. available in its home game against Duke, but the freshman guard and preseason first-team All-ACC selection started Monday. However, the 6-foot-5 point guard, who returned Saturday after missing eight games with a back injury, struggled as he missed his first eight shots.
Brown was not alone in his struggles. The Cardinals missed nine straight during a six-minute period in the first half. Despite that, they took a 25-24 lead on a Ryan Conwell 3-pointer with 4:30 to go before halftime.
That was the last bucket Louisville made until there was 17:50 remaining in the second half. In between, the Cardinals went 0-for-10, and the Blue Devils outscored their guests 22-5.
Conwell finished with 18 points, and J'Vonne Hadley added 11 for Louisville, which shot a season-low 29.6% (16 of 54) from the floor. Brown finished with a season-low seven points and missed 12 of his 13 shots.
Duke also outrebounded Louisville 47-26. The Cardinals had entered Monday ranked second in the conference, averaging 41.4 rebounds per game, and led the ACC in grabbing 28.8 on the defensive glass.