Duke 81, TCU 58 — NCAA Tournament second-round recap

Saturday, March 21, 2026 | Bon Secours Wellness Arena, Greenville, S.C.

The takeaway: Duke looked vulnerable for a while, then looked like a national title favorite. The Blue Devils went to halftime up only four, saw TCU score the first six points of the second half, then answered with a crushing run and rolled to an 81-58 win to reach the Sweet 16. Cameron Boozer led the second-half takeover, while Isaiah Evans kept Duke afloat early and Dame Sarr’s perimeter shooting helped break the game open. (ESPN.com)

Score & line

• Final: Duke 81, TCU 58
• Halftime: Duke 38, TCU 34
• Records after the game: Duke improved to 34-2; TCU finished 23-12. Duke advanced to the tournament’s second weekend for the third straight season under Jon Scheyer. (ESPN.com)

Key stats

Duke shot 27-for-49 (55.1%) from the field, 7-for-21 (33.3%) from three, and 20-for-23 (87.0%) at the foul line. The Blue Devils also dominated the glass, 42-25, and finished with 19 second-chance points and 38 points in the paint. TCU shot just 23-for-69 (33.3%) overall, 7-for-24 (29.2%) from three, and 5-for-10 at the stripe. (Duke University)

Top performers:

• Cameron Boozer (Duke): 19 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals — his 21st double-double of the season. (Duke University)
• Isaiah Evans (Duke): 17 points, including a key first-half stretch of 11 straight Duke points. (Duke University)
• Dame Sarr (Duke): 14 points, 8 rebounds, and a career-high 4 made threes. (Duke University)
• Maliq Brown (Duke): 12 points, 9 rebounds, giving Duke needed toughness inside. (Duke University)
• Cayden Boozer (Duke): 9 points, 5 assists, steadying the offense when TCU made its push. (Duke University)
• Micah Robinson (TCU): 18 points to lead the Horned Frogs. Xavier Edmonds added 12. (ESPN.com)

Game flow — the moments that mattered

The first half never felt comfortable for Duke. The Blue Devils grabbed an early lead, but TCU kept hitting back and made Duke work through a physical, choppy opening 20 minutes. Evans became Duke’s lifeline, drilling a three, then a four-point play, and then a driving layup in a personal burst that pushed the Blue Devils in front 31-23. Even so, TCU closed the gap and trailed only 38-34 at halftime. (Duke University)

Then came Duke’s wobble. TCU scored the first six points of the second half to briefly flip the pressure onto the No. 1 seed, forcing a Duke timeout with 16:11 left. Cameron Boozer stopped the drought with a dunk, then made two free throws after a flagrant foul, and that sequence changed the game’s tone. (Duke University)

From there, Duke began to take control possession by possession. The Boozer twins delivered back-to-back three-point plays to make it 50-44, Nikolas Khamenia buried a corner three for 53-44, and Sarr’s next three pushed the lead to double digits for the first time at 57-47. What had been a tight second-round game suddenly turned into a Duke avalanche. (Duke University)

The decisive blow was a 13-0 run in the second half. Duke stretched the margin from competitive to commanding, building a 70-50 lead with about five minutes left. By the final media timeout, the Blue Devils were up 74-52, and TCU’s upset hopes were finished. Duke outscored the Horned Frogs 43-24 after halftime. (Duke University)

Player notes & lineup context

Using the current 2025-26 rotation, Duke got major starter production from Cameron Boozer, Isaiah Evans, Dame Sarr, Maliq Brown, and Cayden Boozer, with Nikolas Khamenia and Patrick Ngongba II giving meaningful bench minutes. Ngongba’s return was notable — it was his first game action since March 2, and he finished with 4 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists in 13 minutes. (Duke University)

For TCU’s current group, Micah Robinson and Xavier Edmonds were the main scoring threats, and the Horned Frogs were right in the game for a long stretch. But once Duke tightened up defensively and started winning the rebounding battle by a huge margin, TCU ran out of answers. Reuters noted that TCU shot just 11.8% after the final tie at 44-44, which underscores how completely Duke shut the door. (Frogs O’ War)

Why Duke won

1. Second-half defense: TCU scored only 24 points after the break, and Duke’s pressure turned a close game into a runaway. (ESPN.com)
2. Control of the glass: Duke’s 42-25 rebounding edge, including the second-chance margin, kept extra possessions flowing to the Blue Devils. (Duke University)
3. Balanced scoring around Cameron Boozer: Boozer led the way, but Evans, Sarr, and Brown all hit double figures, giving Duke more firepower than TCU could match. (Duke University)
4. Winning plays after halftime: The Boozer brothers’ three-point plays, Khamenia’s corner three, and Sarr’s shooting burst flipped the entire game. (Duke University)

Quick look ahead

With the win, Duke advanced to the Sweet 16 for the 29th time since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985, the most of any program in that span. The Blue Devils carried a 13-game winning streak into the regional round. (Duke University)