Texas Tech and Duke met for a massive contest at Madison Square Garden over the weekend. The Blue Devils controlled the game for almost the entire way; however, they slipped up late and allowed the Red Raiders to storm back for the back-from-behind win, 82-81. The atmosphere felt like a March Madness game as Christian Anderson scored 23 second-half points to upset the Blue Devils in New York.
Texas Tech (9-3) was ranked 19th and has now moved up to 15th in the latest AP Top 25 poll. Duke slid down from No. 3 to No. 6 after the loss with an 11-1 record. Duke still has some quality wins against Texas, No. 24 Kansas, No. 22 Arkansas, No. 15 Florida, and No. 7 Michigan State. No. 3 Iowa State, No. 4 UConn, and No. 5 Purdue have jumped the Blue Devils for now.
Duke will aim to bounce back in a big way at home against Georgia Tech after Christmas on New Year's Eve. This week off should give them the much-needed rest after playing 12 games so far this season. ACC play will begin, and the Blue Devils are favored to win the conference. No. 16 Louisville, No. 12 North Carolina, and No. 21 Virginia seem to be the only real threats. Cal, Miami, and Virginia Tech have had great starts to the season, but their non-conference schedules were not tough.
Cameron Boozer might be the best player in the country. He leads the nation by averaging 23.3 points per game on 56.7% shooting. The freshman adds 10.0 rebounds, 1.7 steals, and 4.0 assists, as just about everything he does leads to a successful play.
