Tag Archives: Duke-Syracuse

Duke Basketball

Duke at Syracuse Primer

When Duke travels to Syracuse to take on the Orange it will be the first time several players on the roster have played in a [Carrier] Dome. It is not easy to adjust to the surroundings in some cases so this is something to keep an eye on.

And do not sleep on the Orange. With a 13-8 record and a 6-4 mark in the ACC, they are especially dangerous at home. After a slow start to the season the Orange; after losing to Notre Dame and Virginia Tech, Syracuse reeled off five straight wins. And that streak started with a win over Virginia in Charlottesville.

Syracuse lost their last game by a point at Clemson, but they have played a solid schedule and they are more than capable of pulling an upset over Duke which has been labeled a 6.5 point favorite.

The Orange features the ACC's leading scorer in Elijah Hughes. Another key to recent success is freshmen Joe Girard, a player you cannot leave open for a three-point attempt. If his name sounds familiar, Duke kicked the wheels on recruiting him a season ago.

Another factor is that Mike Krzyzewski will be going up against his friend Jim Boeheim. And then there is the coaches son Buddy Boeheim who is a top ten scorer in the league. With family ties and emotion strange things can happen and this is when upsets occur.

For Duke to have success they must push the aforementioned three players off the three-point stripe and make them drive. Marek Dolezag anchors the post with Bourama Sidibe in what is usually a seven-man rotation.

Duke needs the win as much as Syracuse to stay in the ACC regular season race. A loss would likely drop the Blue Devils out of the top ten and there are ten games left in the season after this matchup.

The Blue Devils are led by their most consistent players in Vernon Carey Jr. and Tre Jones. But this is a game where a third wheel needs to have a breakout game and they must adjust their shooting to the Dome in short order.

I feel like the Blue Devils will come out on top this evening, but it would be far from shocking if they lose. Duke will get every teams best shot with tournament time fast approaching.

We will learn a lot about the ACC today where key matchups are played a 12, 2, 4, 6 and then the 8:00 tip-off for the Blue Devils at the Orange.

Duke Basketball

Duke Holds off Syracuse To Advance

Gary Trent FT's help Duke to a win.

The Duke Blue Devils moved to 29-7 on the season with a hard-fought 69-65 win over Syracuse.  Duke will now prepare for Kansas in which will be an epic match up on Sunday.

Gary Trent Jr. sealed the win for the Blue Devils by hitting two free throws.  He finished the game with 14 points and 5 rebounds.  Duke was once again led in scoring by Marvin Bagley III who scored a game high 22 points.  "It was s tough game to be a part of and it came down to the end.  We just have to find different ways to score on them," said Bagley during the post game press conference.

Duke Duke also had a solid effort from Wendell Carter who put up a double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds.  Duke also had Grayson Allen in double figures with 15 points to go with a game high 8 assists.

The Blue Devils also got some good minutes off the bench from Marques Bolden who added 2 points and 3 rebounds all of which came at a critical point in the game.  Bagley became the top scoring freshman in Duke history.

The Duke defense forced Syracuse into 16 turnovers while committing just 7 of their own.  Duke scored 18 points off turnovers and probably should have won the game with more ease.

The Blue Devils also benefited from getting to the fre throw stripe 28 times where they made 20 of them.   Duke struggled mightily from the beyond the three-point stripe, going just 2-18 in the 2nd half.

Mike Krzyzewski is 12-2  in Elite 8 games.  Duke has 7-4 edge over Kansas in the all time series.  Duke will play at 5:05 on Sunday.