Syracuse Basketball Rewatch: Duke comes to the Dome for the first time

Sports continue to be on a hiatus. We lost the NCAA Tournament and the end of the Syracuse basketball season, but we did not lose classic Orange moments.

Syracuse basketball has had many classic games throughout their history. Some of the most memorable can be found on Youtube.

Today’s rewatch observations come from the first classics against Duke since the move to the ACC. An overtime classic won by the Orange to improve them to 21-0 for the first time in the team’s history.

This iconic matchup took place on February 1, 2014. If you’d like to rewatch this game as well it can be found here.

The Orange were riding high. A chance to become the number one team in the country was on the line with a win and anticipation of just the second crowd of over 35,000 at the Carrier Dome.

The game went to overtime on a last-second shot from Rasheed Sulaimon. Jabari Parker and Amile Jefferson fouled out in regulation giving the Orange a dominant advantage inside the paint. This led to Syracuse’s 91-to-89 win in the classic at the Carrier Dome.

The observations from a rewatch of (17) Duke vs (2) Syracuse, February 1, 2014:

The Atmosphere

The Carrier Dome only once prior held a crowd over 35,000. That came a year before when Georgetown came to Central New York for the final time as Big East foes. However, in that game the Hoyas had control throughout most of the game and the Syracuse faithful could really get going. That was not the case against Duke.

The Carrier Dome was alive. It was reminiscent of a contest just a couple years previous when Villanova came into town with College GameDay and Syracuse was on the verge of the number one ranking.

With the early start by Duke knocking down several outside shots, you could feel how tense the crowd became, with Deja vu feelings of just the year prior. But the crowd was not just going to be idle spectators this year, they kept the energy and then exploded with an Orange that was sparked from a transition dunk by freshman Tyler Roberson from sophomore transfer Michael Gbinije, the final two usable guys on the bench. Which leads to the next observation.

The collective talent on the roster

Syracuse boasted an eight-man rotation in this game against Duke. A starting lineup of Tyler Ennis – Trevor Cooney – Jerami Grant – C.J. Fair – and Rakeem Christmas. With Roberson, Gbinije and Bae Moussa Keita coming off their bench. This was also the talent that remained after the graduations of Brandon Triche and James Southerland and Michael Carter-Williams to the NBA.

Just considering the remaining guys, who did not include DaJuan Coleman, who was injured Syracuse played eight guys who achieved four All-ACC selections, three All-ACC defense, one All-Big East, and one All-American honors with four drafted in the NBA.

While all the talent didn’t produce their peaks at the same time, this team at their best had one of the best runs in Syracuse history. While they finished 3-6 in their final nine games but still ran into the best start in program history winning their first 25. How they beat teams like Duke feels like it is from another lifetime. That leads to my final observation.

Syracuse’s ability to score inside

This past season Syracuse shot more than 20 threes in 27 of their 31 games. In the 2013-2014 season that only happened four times. The same amount of times they shot less than 10 in a game. Including against Duke at the Carrier Dome, Syracuse only took four three-pointers all game, hitting three of them.

Syracuse dominated on the inside. The scored 43 points in the paint and then added another 26 from the free-throw line. They punished Duke on the interior on both ends. Fair, Grant and Christmas lead the charge.

Grant and Fair each scored with a variety of moves proving to be a pair of the toughest matchups not only in this game of two titans but of the entire college basketball landscape. The duo combined for 52 points and 17 rebounds. Add in Christmas’ 10 boards and 6 blocks, it becomes more clear why the future number two overall pick in the NBA draft Jabari Parker struggled so much.

The Orange were constructed to clamp down on teams with their interior talent while converting long rebounds into points with a sturdy point guard play by Ennis.

Syracuse vs Duke was a legendary matchup that fans were given with the move to the ACC. Their first matchup lived up to the hype or more. In this time without sports it is an exciting beginning for Syracuse basketball rewatches.