Duke rips Syracuse on the road
Duke cruises past Syracuse thanks to three players scoring 20 or more points.
Duke walked into the Carrier Dome for the final time under head coach Mike Krzyzewski and steamrolled its way to a 97-72 win over Syracuse.
The 25-point margin of victory represents the largest Krzyzewski has recorded over a Jim Boeheim coached team. And had it not been for a nearly five minute stretch to end the first half and a brief two-plus minute span in which Syracuse found a rhythm, the final score might have been even more lopsided.
The Blue Devils led by as many as 30 points in the first half and 27 in the second. It was as dominating of a performance as the Blue Devils have put together this season.
Smiles were abound for Duke following the effort.
“It was great,” Mark Williams said of Duke’s blowout win. “Obviously we were flowing pretty well on the offensive end. I think we locked in on the defensive end, too. Offensively, we moved the ball. Everybody was getting good shots. Defensively we just communicated well - moving and just playing Duke defense.”
It all started right out of the gates. Duke delivered the knockout punch before the first media timeout took place, as it led 11-0 just 4:16 into the game. Krzyzewski’s squad stretched that lead 14-0, and eventually 31-9 by the 11:49 mark when Boeheim called a timeout to slow the bleeding.
How Duke arrived at that lead is perhaps more impressive than the score itself. The Blue Devils were 11-of-12 from the field, including 6-of-7 from 3-point range. They were also 3-of-3 from the free throw line. The lone miss came with 14:09 on the clock when Wendell Moore Jr. missed a 3-point attempt.
The missed shot was not an end to Duke’s unconscious shooting, as the Blue Devils did not miss their second shot until the game clock read 9:38. AJ Griffin missed a 3-point try, but by that point he had already connected on three attempts from the perimeter.
It was an absolute onslaught from Duke’s offense.
While Griffin was torching the nets from the perimeter, Paolo Banchero and Williams were putting on a clinic of how to break down a zone defense.
Banchero was particularly dangerous to the Syracuse defense, as he was directly involved in Duke’s first seven successful offensive possessions, scoring seven points and handing out four assists during the stretch.
It was a precursor of what was to come all night long.
“You know in the zone, the middle is the weak spot,” Banchero said after the game. “So we just wanted to get the ball in the middle, which is me most of the time. And then me making reads, whether that’s the defender stepping up, dropping it off to Mark, throwing the lob up to Mark or if Mark’s covered, kicking it out to AJ or whoever else on the wing. So, it was just a pretty simple game plan, so it was just about executing.”
Simple indeed. At least that’s the way Banchero and his teammates made it look. The freshman finished the game with 21 points and nine assists. Those assists went to two players — Williams and Griffin.
In fact, Williams was the recipient of six of those nine assists. Williams was dominant all game long and the Orange had no answer whatsoever for the 7-footer.
Williams finished the game with 28 points on 11-of-14 shooting and 6-of-7 from the free throw line. Seven of his 11 made shots came via the dunk, which was a direct result of Banchero’s ability to draw defenders and dump the ball off to Williams at the rim.
It was a thing of beauty. In addition to Williams’ scoring efforts, he owned the glass for Duke, pulling down 12 for the game with eight of those coming off the offensive glass. The Blue Devils ultimately had 17 second chance points with Williams responsible for 10 of those.
“He’s automatic, especially in the paint around the rim,” Banchero said of Williams. “You just want to get him the ball and he’s going to do the rest. He’s been doing that all year. We knew coming in with the zone we would be able to have the advantage inside — get easy buckets around the rim. So we just wanted to feed him.”
Griffin was also a machine for Duke. He joined Williams and Banchero as 20-point scorers in the game. He posted 20 on 7-of-11 shooting, highlighted by a 6-of-10 effort from long range. He was a recipient of three assists from Banchero, all of which resulted in shots from beyond the arc. Four of those 3s came in the first half alone.
Duke had a stretch from 14:59 of the first half to the 10:33 mark where it connected on six 3-pointers — Griffin with two, and Banchero with three. Jeremy Roach had the other. Only four of the Blue Devils’ made shots from the 14:59 mark were inside the 3-point stripe, while nine were from beyond.
The Blue Devils ultimately finished the night 15-of-32 from 3-point range. Griffin and Banchero accounted for 10.
For the game, the trio of Williams, Banchero and Griffin scored just three fewer combined points (69) than the entire Syracuse team posted (72).
While the Duke offense was clicking in nearly every possible way — Roach also scored in double figures with 10 points — as Williams noted previously, the defense was clicking as well.
Syracuse did not score its first basket until the 15:27 mark of the first half, and though the Orange concluded the first 20 minutes shooting 48.4%, they were out of sorts for the first 15 minutes of the half.
By Syracuse’s timeout with 11:49 to go, Duke was hitting 91.7% of their shots, while Syracuse had made just 30.8%.
The Blue Devils did get lackadaisical during the final five minutes, ultimately being outscored by Syracuse 16-3 going into the half. Instead of a 30 point advantage, Duke watched its lead get cut to 17.
Beyond that, Duke’s defense was outstanding and made it difficult for Syracuse to get many open looks. Buddy Boeheim did score 23 points, but he shot under 50% to get there, including just 30% from long range.
Syracuse made just five 3s all game long, making just 26.3%.
“On the defensive end we can be as special as we want to be,” Williams said. “We showed a glimpse of that today. It’s going to be game by game — coverages are going to be different, knowing personnel, scout — that sort of thing. But when we’re locked in on the defensive end we can be really special.”
Duke’s second half effort was equally impressive. Syracuse managed to keep Duke from blowing things open much further for the first 12 minutes of the second half, however, they were unable to carry the momentum built to end the first half into the second. Duke’s lead fluctuated between 16 and 20 points for most of those 12 minutes before Krzyzewski’s squad began stretching things out even further.
The Blue Devils were really never threatened by the Orange.
As a whole, Duke was a force in all facets of the game. The Devils out-rebounded Syracuse 38-25, while putting on a show offensively, breaking down the zone with precision. That effort led to 26 assists on 35 made baskets.
Even those who were not scoring at a high clip — Moore and Trevor Keels — were making their presence felt. Moore finished with six rebounds and six assists to go along with his five points. Keels scored four points and handed out four assists of his own. Theo John gave Duke four points and four rebounds off the bench.
It was another all-around team effort for Duke.
Duke remains one game ahead of Notre Dame for first in the ACC. Each team has two games remaining.