Duke’s Cameron Boozer suffered orbital fractures in loss to UConn

Cameron Boozer and the Duke basketball team suffered one of the most improbable and heartbreaking losses in March Madness history when UConn’s buzzer-beater knocked them out of the Elite 8, 73-72. While the multiple-player-of-the-year-award-winner is not one to make excuses, part of the Blue Devils’ collapse down the stretch of that game could have been related to the fact that Boozer suffered facial fractures during that game.

“Projected top -3 pick Cam Boozer said he ‘had a couple fractures’ while pointing to his orbital/eye area, and he decided to ‘forego surgery’,” college basketball insider Adam Zagoria reported from the U.S. Basketball Writers Player of the Year press conference.

UConn center Eric Reibe caught Boozer in the eye with an elbow during the first half of the Final Four game. The injury drew extra attention when cameras caught the Duke basketball trainer rolling a bottle of Coca-Cola on Boozer’s eye to help reduce the swelling.

Despite the injury, Boozer still put up 27 points and 10 rebounds, which is right in line with his 24.5-point and 10.2-rebound averages this season. However, as a team, Duke dropped 44 points in the first half and just 28 9in the second, which led to the 19-point collapse.

Boozer is surely still heartbroken over this stunning loss, but he will now have to shift focus to the 2026 NBA Draft in June. The 18-year-old phenom, and son of former Duke and NBA star Carlos Boozer, should be no worse than the third or fourth pick of the upcoming draft. The 6-foot-10 freshman has not yet declared for the draft, but bolting for the pros is widely expected.

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