Syracuse Basketball: Orange lose in instant classic vs Duke Blue Devils

The Syracuse basketball squad put up a valiant effort but ultimately fell short vs the Duke Blue Devils. Here’s how it all went down in the Carrier Dome.

WOW, what a game between the Syracuse basketball squad and the Duke Blue Devils. It obviously would’ve been better if the Orange were able to pull off the second upset of Duke this season but nonetheless here’s how this all played out.

The game started with a moment of silence for the Jimenez family. Earlier this week Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim was involved in a fatal car accident that resulted in Jorge Jimenez losing his life.

After careful consideration, Syracuse University made the decision that coach Boeheim would indeed resume his coaching duties for this monumental Syracuse vs Duke game on Saturday evening.

With a lot of emotion in this game for a variety of reasons the game certainly lived up to the hype throughout the first half.

In the first Syracuse vs Duke game earlier this season, Paschal Chukwu awoke from his slumber and had arguably the best game of his career hauling in 18 boards. Since then he has struggled to mirror that performance.

I don’t know what it is with Duke, but Chukwu awoke again to provide Syracuse an early spark. Paschal showed awareness in grabbing boards and putting them back in the cup.

Another player who really stood out in that Syracuse vs Duke matchup was senior point guard Frank Howard. Since that point, it’s been very up and down, but the good Howard was prevalent for Syracuse. His red-hot shooting put Syracuse up 12-11 early.

In a shocking move for the Duke side, coach K seemingly made a reactionary move by throwing freshman Joey Baker into the game (thus wasting his redshirt season). Tough break for the kid and a rash decision from the Blue Devils head coach.

Overall both teams struggled offensively in the first stanza. But with Duke’s track record and Syracuse walking out of the first half with a five-point lead, you’ve got to be feeling pretty good.

First-half takeaways:

• Syracuse is DOMINATING the battle of the boards: 24-17. But specifically, the Orange came down with 10 offensive boards in the first stanza. The clear difference in that first half.
• RJ Barrett was everything for Duke in the first half. He scored 17 of Duke’s 29 first-half points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field.
• Balanced scoring from Syracuse:
  • Frank Howard (10 points)
  • Elijah Hughes (7 points)
  • Marek Dolezaj (6 points)
  • Tyus Battle (5 points)

Second half

An inevitable battle of Canadians happened early in the second half with Oshae Brissett and RJ Barrett fighting back-and-forth. Speaking of back-and-forth, this entire game in the first half and second half was an instant classic with both ACC foes trading blows and re-taking the lead from each other.

Which means the record-breaking crowd was able to see a show (the record was broken by nearly 200 people). There’s no other way to put this: Saturday’s tilt with Syracuse vs Duke was the largest on-campus crowd in the history of college basketball!

Although the crowd was hushed when Syracuse’s resident Canadian was crumpled in a heap under the basket. Oshae Brissett was seen squinting apparently suffering from some blurry vision.

Although the Orange narrowed the lead with a Chukwu lob slam making it 48-46 closing in on the halfway mark of the second half.

If there’s something strange in your neighborhood, Who you gonna call? TYUS BATTLE! Knotted at 50-50, Battle delivered the game-tying bucket.

A quick side note, perhaps we should just whisper to Paschal Chukwu that every game is actually the Duke game? Because when he thinks it is any other opponent, he struggles, but when the Blue Devils come to town he plays out of his mind.

Someone else who continues to play out of his mind is Dolezaj. He collected his fourth foul of the game with under 10 minutes remaining in the game, but has put together another scrappy performance in as many nights.

With 7 minutes and change remaining, the Duke Blue Devils have maintained a 58-52 lead in this hotly contested battle between ACC rivals.

One of the big differences has been Duke shooting 5-of-10 from beyond the arc. Statistically speaking Duke is one of the worst three-point shooting teams in the country this season, but the Blue Devils have found ways to convert in the second half.

Just when Syracuse was closing the gap, Duke hits another big three extending their lead to five (61-56 with around six minutes to go). That lead extended to 65-56 with four and a half minutes remaining due to some issues from the Orange.

Ultimately what did the Orange in was an offensive lull in the second half that they simply couldn’t overcome. It came at the worst possible time and Duke was able to squeak out the victory.

Final takeaways: 

• RJ Barrett is really really good and that was more evident than ever with Zion Williamson sitting this one out. Barrett racked up 30 points on 14-of-20 shooting.
• Marek Dolezaj dropped 10 points and was even more impactful then the box score indicates (per usual).
• Tyus Battle dominated the first meeting between Syracuse and Duke, but that wasn’t the case in the rematch. Battle struggled from the field going 4-of-17.
• The other Syracuse star Oshae Brissett couldn’t continue his strong play from the Louisville game finishing 3-of-12 from the field.

Up next the Orange have two straight road games next week vs North Carolina on Tuesday night, then Wake Forest next Saturday evening. With only four ACC games remaining things are starting to get down to the bitter end for better or for worse.