Duke falls to Texas Tech. What we learned in Blue Devils’ first loss of the season
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- Duke entered MSG undefeated, ranked No. 3, but lost 82-81.
- Cameron Boozer posted 23-8-7 but missed five free throws, proving decisive.
- Texas Tech rallied from 17 down; Anderson scored 27 and Toppin grabbed 10 boards.
Duke came into Madison Square Garden, the famous arena it knows so well, undefeated, ranked third nationally and easily the favored team for most of a sellout crowd.
The Blue Devils had met every big basketball test this season, winning against Kansas, Florida, Michigan State, Arkansas and Texas. They were favored to add Texas Tech, ranked No. 19, to that list in the SentinelOne Classic.
But the Red Raiders refused to cooperate. Trailing by as many as 17 points in the second half, they rallied behind some scintillating shooting of sophomore guard Christian Anderson and some scrappy defense and relentless rebounding to hand the Blue Devils an 82-81 loss.
With the score tied at 81, Duke’s Caleb Foster fouled Anderson with 3.4 seconds left and made one of two. The Blue Devils rebounded his miss on the second and called timeout with 1.6 seconds showing.
With the Garden buzzing, Duke’s Cameron Boozer got off a 3-point shot from the left wing at the buzzer, but it was short and the Devils had their first loss after 11 wins.
“It stings,” Boozer said. “I mean, we were up and didn’t put ‘em away. We took our foot off the gas. We’ve got to keep pressing. When you go up, you’ve got to make a couple of more plays and keep the run going.
“So this one definitely hurts a lot, for sure. I mean, it happens sometimes. You’ve got to be better about it.”
Boozer had 23 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, but the freshman also missed five of his 14 free throws. Duke closed 17 of 29 at the line, easily the difference in a close game.
“Gotta knock ‘em down,” Boozer said, speaking for himself and the team.
Anderson had 27 points for the Red Raiders (9-3), 23 in the second half, and talented forward JT Toppin had a double-double with 19 and 10 rebounds despite playing much of the second half with four fouls. LeJaun Watts, an energetic 6-6 forward, had 20 points before fouling out
“It was super electric,” Anderson said of the game. “Our level of fight enabled us to win the game. I started out sluggish, but I knew I had to be aggressive for us to win and keep the defenders on their toes.”
It was a game of ebbs and flows. Texas Tech scored the first nine points of the game. Duke recovered and led by 10 at halftime. Duke surged ahead by 17 in the second half, only to have the Raiders shoot and fight their way back into it.
“I thought we got a little stagnant,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said. “We’ve been great down the stretch, but tonight they made one more play than us.
“It was like a tournament environment. I thought they were playing with house money a little bit, with the foul trouble they had going on. So they were playing really free and I thought we were playing a little bit not to lose, and you can’t play that way. You’ve got to play to win.”
The game had a tight finish, keeping the crowd of 19,812 on its feet in the final minutes. Anderson’s fifth 3-pointer of the game pulled Tech within 76-74, and Toppin then tied the score 76-76 with 2:19 left.
Toppin’s scrambling baseline fallaway pushed the Raiders ahead 78-77 with 1:33 left, and after a Duke turnover, a conventional 3-point play by Anderson made it a four-point lead for Texas Tech.
Duke’s Cayden Boozer answered with a 3 from the corner, and the Blue Devils then forced a turnover. Cameron Boozer was fouled, but made just one of two at the line for an 81-81 tie.
Officiating always an X factor
Most coaches agree that adjusting to an officiating crew can be a challenge. Think NCAA tournament, when new faces often appear in the stripes.
Duke and Texas Tech spent some time doing it Saturday as referees Chance Moore, Chuck Jones and Bert Smith at times had both teams shaking their heads, and had Duke head coach Jon Scheyer and Tech coach Grant McCasland, a fiery type on the sideline, both seeking some answers.
With 7:46 left in the opening half, Toppin was whistled for his third personal foul after a collision with Duke’s Patrick Ngongba that had both players crashing to the floor. After a review of the play, Toppin’s foul was overturned and Ngongba instead issued a flagrant-1 foul. Talk about a turnabout. Scheyer was not happy with that one.
Moments later, Dame Sarr swished a 3 from the right corner. With Duke fans cheering, Sarr was called for a technical foul.
Maybe Sarr said something, maybe he didn’t. He does speak six languages.
In the second half, Duke’s Maliq Brown was called for goaltending a shot by Jaylen Petty. With the replay being shown, Scheyer was up quickly motioning a challenge to the call.
The challenge was successful. Duke ball.
Watts was unexpected Raiders’ star
There are always games within the game, especially with the matchups.
Cameron Boozer was a 6-foot-9, 250-pound problem for the Raiders, as many expected. What wasn’t expected was it being Tech’s Watts, rather than Toppin, being the hardest for Duke to handle inside in the 27 minutes he was in the game.
Watts, a transfer from Washington State, is listed at 6-6 and 230 pounds and physically challenged anyone the Blue Devils had on him — Cameron Boozer, Maliq Brown, Darren Harris, whoever had him off Duke’s defensive switches.
Watts, an emotional type on the floor, did make one big mistake. After the Raiders pulled within 60-51 with a 10-2 spurt, Watts rebounded a Duke miss but lost the ball to Brown under the basket. Brown turned and scored for the and-one as Watts fouled.
Watts fouled out of the game with 11:33 remaining. His stat line: 20 points, six rebounds, three assists.
In came Nolan Groves, a 6-5, 205-pound freshman. Groves banged bodies with Cameron Boozer and gave the Red Raiders 13 solid minutes. And Anderson started making 3’s.
Another slow start
The Blue Devils’ reasoning for a stumbling start against Lipscomb was being off 10 days during the semester break for exams. Besides, it wasn’t costly in the end as Duke scored 97 points and won by 23.
Then, the Devils were hit in the face early again Saturday.
In the first two-plus minutes of the game at the Garden, Texas Tech had a 9-0 start. Watts hit a couple of inside baskets, Christian Anderson knocked in a 3 and Watts followed with a jumper.
Just like that, Scheyer was up and calling for a timeout.
Nik Khamenia finally jump-started Duke with a corner 3 and added another basket after Cameron Boozer blocked a Watts shot. The Duke defense began to kick and Tech would not hit another 3-pointer in the first half in falling behind 46-36, missing eight of nine.
The Red Raiders entered the game shooting 37.6% on 3s but were shooting blanks in the first half. Anderson would change that in the second half and was feeling it.
This story was originally published December 20, 2025 at 10:58 PM.
