The center of the college basketball universe has been in the Research Triangle of late where the three schools separated by a few miles have all been in the news.

On an unusually early spring like day, fans crammed into Cameron Indoor Stadium. the Duke Blue Devils played stellar defense yet again for a 60-44 win over Syracuse.

It was the first game back for the ACC's leading scorer in Marvin Bagley III and he did not disappoint.  He scored most of his points in the 1st half on his way to a game high 19 points.

The game was also the first time Wendell Carter Jr. had played after being in the news far more than he should from a minor infraction leaked to Yahoo.

As it turns out, the Carter family did no wrong and Wendell said there had been little worry since the situation was cleared up.  Carter would have a monster stat line in the win.  He tallied 16 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists.

Duke struggled offensively in their back-court.  Grayson Allen would end the game with just 6 points but added a team high 6 assists.  Gary Trent would add 7 points and Trevon Duval 3 points.  The three combined for just 6 of 28 field goal attempts.

Duke had another big night from Marques Bolden who had a spectacular 7 points, 6 rebound in just 12 minutes of play.  Javin DeLaurier added 2 points, 2 steals and 6 rebounds.

Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski praised the effort from his bench and said that it was hard top get clean looks in the game.  But he was most impressed with his team's defense where they have put together four straight lock down performances.

The Blue Devils held Syracuse to just 31.5% shooting and had a very impressive 13 steals in the game.  In short, Duke showed Syracuse that they too could play zone in a very solid way.

The return of Bagley and the continued good play from Carter, Bolden and DeLaurier helped Duke to a 36-12 advantage in the paint.  The group also protected the rim and made it hard for Syracuse to get any points near the rim.

Duke will have very little time to rest and recover which was a concern for Krzyzewski.  The team has to get its rest and travel to Blacksburg, Virginia for a 7:00 against a hungry Virginia Tech team on Monday evening.

Wendell Carter Jr. had his 15th double-double of the season in the win.  Carter also leads the team with 26 double figure scoring games.  Marvin Bagley is just behind him where he now has 24.

In its last four games, Duke is letting up just 52.25 ppg.  With today's win, Duke pushed its conference record to 12-4 and they hold a 24-5 overall mark.