CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Time and time again, Cameron Boozer attacked the paint with an Atlantic Coast Conference championship on the line. And Duke's star freshman repeatedly found himself meeting an unusual outcome.
Seeing his shots batted out of the air by Virginia's Ugonna Onyenso.
“Well," Boozer admitted, “I definitely got frustrated.”
That battle between the 6-foot-10, 250-pound Boozer and the 7-foot, 245-pound Onyenso stood out amid top-ranked Duke's 74-70 victory over the 10th-ranked Cavaliers on Saturday night in the ACC Tournament title game. Onyenso was the key to harassing the high-end NBA prospect into the roughest shooting performance of his season.
Boozer entered Saturday ranked eighth nationally in scoring (22.8) while shooting 57.9%. He finished with a season-low 13 points on a season-worst 3-for-17 shooting, with Onyenso swatting four of his shots — three in the second half.
Boozer still finished with eight rebounds and eight assists to secure tournament MVP honors, but it was a struggle all night in anchoring the interior attack that has helped Duke overwhelm opponents since January.
The battle inside
Onyenso finished with nine blocks, seven in the second half, to break former Wake Forest big man and longtime NBA star Tim Duncan's single-tournament record for blocks.
“First of all I’ve got give props to him,” Boozer said. “He’s a great defender, great shot blocker. I think there’s a lot I can learn from this game, but I just want to keep attacking, keep attacking, figure it out, find other ways to win. Obviously, my shot wasn’t falling. I wasn’t getting in a rhythm. But just had to find a way.”
Boozer's 17.6% shooting was his lowest total of the season, undercutting the 25% mark (3 for 12) against Texas in this same arena to open the season. It also marked only the third time all year Boozer had finished with just three field goals.
Two of those have come against the Cavaliers, who have held Boozer to 6-for-26 shooting (23.1%) going back to a meeting at Duke's Cameron Indoor Stadium two weeks ago.
Yet the Blue Devils (32-2) won both, and now head to March Madness poised to claim a No. 1 seed.
“One thing with me is I’m really good with my timing, so when we played them at Duke, I was a little bit off,” Onyenso said. "So coming into today’s game, I was like, okay, this is what I’ve got to do, steel my feet, don’t jump. That really helped me with my timing.
“Cam, he does a lot of shot faking. That’s his thing. So being able to stay on my feet when he shot faked really helped me with my timing.”
Boozer has been able to challenge opposing bigs with his ability to step out beyond the arc and even operate as a playmaker and de facto point guard in some of Duke's sets. That has allowed him to move defenders around off the dribble, then prove strong enough to finish over — or through them — with dropsteps and spin moves in the paint.
Or, if he didn't finish, he often ended up at the foul line.
Yet Onyenso repeatedly shut those off in a way no one else has all year, even No. 3 Michigan's deep front line in a marquee nonconference game last month. He also avoided foul trouble, picking up a single foul with 6:33 left in the second half, even as Boozer repeatedly went at him and initiated contact.
“Look, we’re going to continue to go to him regardless of how he’s playing,” coach Jon Scheyer said, standing on the court amid fallen confetti and players starting to cut down the nets after the win. “He didn’t have his best stuff. But in fairness to him, we rely on him so heavily. We played three games in a row. They're loaded up, they have a great frontcourt.”
The finish
Fittingly, Boozer made the biggest play to help Duke hold on, coming after he attacked Onyenso in the final 30 seconds with the Blue Devils protecting a two-point lead. Once again, Onyenso blocked his shot — his 21st block of the three games in Charlotte — only for Boozer to wrestle control of the rebound.
But instead of forcing it back up, Boozer kicked the ball out for Duke to work on the clock. Isaiah Evans followed with a pair of free throws to push the margin to 72-68, then Boozer closed with two clinching foul shots with 3.9 left to seal Scheyer's third ACC Tournament title in his four seasons.
“Give them credit, because they protect the rim probably better than anybody we’ve played,” Scheyer said. “You just believe he’s going to come through, and he did.”
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