Duke at Syracuse: Gameday Open Thread

No. 9 Duke will hit the road to face Syracuse in a Saturday night ACC showdown.

The Blue Devils have won two straight to move to 7-2 in the ACC. They’ll get back Wendell Moore Jr., who returns to the court after missing 27 days with a broken bone in his hand.

Duke will need to find a way to cope with Syracuse’s zone defense. Point guard Tre Jones said the team got lazy and stood around on offense Tuesday against Pitt, helping to spur a Panthers run. That could be fatal against Syracuse.

Duke will need to refrain from launching three pointers in the face of the zone. The Blue Devils hit well from three against Pitt, but they’ll need to work the ball inside to keep Vernon Carey involved. The center had a season high in minutes and score 26 points on Tuesday.

The game will match hall of fame coaches in Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski and Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim. The two veterans worked together on Team USA and always seem to produce entertaining games against each other.

Per the Durham Herald Sun’s Steve Wiseman, Duke assistant Jon Scheyer has an emergency appendectomy today. Nolan Smith is back in Durham due to family illness. So the coaching staff is down two.

Duke’s starters: Vernon Carey Jr, Matthew Hurt, Cassius Stanley, Jordan Goldwire, Tre Jones

Duke down 11-6 at the under 16. Has missed both three attempts but seems dedicated to getting it inside so far. Matthew Hurt, who has battled foul trouble lately, id already on the bench with two

Vernon Carey picks up a bad foul trying to run down a breakaway dunk. He has two. DeLaurier and Hurt also with two. Syracuse up 21-16.

This is brilliant:

The SU students have been reading the papers. They start a "Coach K, sit with us'' chant.
— Mike Waters (@MikeWatersSYR) February 2, 2020

Duke scores four straight in the final minute of the half to take its first lead of the game. Syracuse takes a time out with 21 seconds left. Duke up 40-36.

And that's the score at half. Carey leads Duke with 12 points and 8 rebounds. DeLaurier and O'Connell, who have seen playing time shrink lately, have 8 and 4 respectively. Duke struggled with turnovers in the first half, coughing it up eight times.

Syracuse is 1-of-12 from three.

Duke comes out with seven quick points, but Vernon Carey gets a technical for his showmanship after dunking. That counts as foul number three.

He screamed while he dunked, which seemed to be the extent of his bad behavior, but it was enough to T him up.

Wow, Carey with a floor-length pass for a Cassius Stanley layup. Duke suddenly up 10.

Syracuse getting hot from three, while Duke is being careless from the ball. Orange cuts it to under 10 at the line as we come back from the under four. 79-70 Duke.

Duke botches an alley oop. Syracuse scores. Wendell Moore fouls out on a charge. Syracuse ball down 7

Duke pushes it back to 10, but Cuse's Hughes hits a three to cut it to seven. Time out Orange. 86-79 Duke.

Tre Jones with two free throws, another Syracuse three, but Stanley drives the lane for a layup and foul. Sidibe fouls out. Stanley hits the FT. 91-82 Duke.

Duke picks up its third win in a row to improve to 8-2 in the ACC, 18-3 overall with a 97-88 win.