Duke Blue Devils star Cameron Boozer dropped a strong message following his team's tight win over the Florida State Seminoles in the ACC Tournament.
The Duke Blue Devils entered the ACC Tournament without both Caleb Foster and Patrick Ngongba, both of whom are nursing their own respective injuries.
While Ngongba is expected back for the NCAA Tournament, Foster might not return this season at all, so Duke needs to become accustomed to playing without its junior point guard.
The Blue Devils faced their first test in their first game of the ACC tourney on Thursday night, holding on to defeat the Florida State Seminoles by a score of 80-79.
Jon Scheyer's squad had to rally from eight points down in the second half, getting 32 points from a scorching Isaiah Evans as well as 23 points and 10 rebounds from Cameron Boozer.
Afterward, Boozer sent a strong message about Duke's win and how the team will continue to proceed in the face of adversity.
"Yeah, we talked about it. We're making no excuses, next man up," Boozer told reporters. "Come out here -- like Coach said, FSU is the hottest team in our league besides us the last 12 games. I think it just says that we can win ugly. Obviously we don't want to win ugly, but we can if we have to."
Duke Blue Devils forward Cameron Boozer. Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images.Duke allowed Florida State to shoot 52 percent from the floor and also turned the ball over 15 times, but the Blue Devils outrebounded the Seminoles 46-25.
It wasn't pretty, but Boozer and Co. found a way.
"We pushed -- I think we were down eight at one point and went on a big time run, started on the defensive end. And moving forward just got to be better," Boozer added.
Duke shot 44 percent from the field in the victory and went just 14-of-23 from the free-throw line, so the Blue Devils nearly cost themselves a win due to missed foul shots.
Nevertheless, Duke has advanced in the conference tournament and will take on a tough Clemson Tigers squad on Friday night.
Boozer, meanwhile, is averaging 22.8 points, 10.2 boards and 4.1 assists over 32.9 minutes per game on 57.8/40.7/78.0 shooting splits this season.
The 6-foot-9, 250-pound forward is expected to be one of the top picks in the NBA Draft this summer, but for now, he has some business to take care of at Durham.
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