In easily the most hyped game of the college basketball season, Duke and Syracuse gave everything they had and some extra.
The Orange got the better of the Blue Devils winning a classic 91-89 thriller and improving to 21-0 on the season. Duke drops to 17-5 (6-3 ACC) but despite the loss one thing is clear, the Blue Devils are as good a team as any in the conference and the country.
The game went back and forth going into overtime before the Orange were able to pull out the victory.
Syracuse and their vaunted zone defense was as advertised but as I projected the offensive ability of C.J. Fair and Tyler Ennis hurt the Blue Devils. The one guy most didn’t count on making a huge contribution was Jerami Grant who scored 24 points, second behind only Fair’s 28.
Duke struggled to get stops and by contrast it didn’t necessarily get its best game from its best players. Jabari Parker who fouled out prior to overtime scored 15 points, but was limited greatly due to fouls and the intensity of the Orange zone.
Rodney Hood scored 14 points but at times disappeared. The one guy who really stepped up was Amile Jefferson who scored 14 points and grabbed 7 rebounds before fouling out.
It was the foul trouble that really put Duke behind the eight ball and until Tyler Thornton came in late in the second half and hit three-straight three-point shots, it looked like Syracuse might put Duke away.
But that didn’t happen and the Blue Devils fought back and got a miraculous last second three-point shot by Rasheed Sulaimon to force overtime.
In the extra session it looked like Duke might be able to pull away but losing both Parker and Jefferson to foul trouble hurt the Blue Devils defensively and one bad offensive position and some missed free throws sunk Duke’s hope of pulling out the first victory over Syracuse this season.
Much will be made of this game by Duke fans, namely the enormous foul disparity. Syracuse shot 32 foul shots to the Blue Devil’s 17 and in the waning seconds of the game Rodney Hood appeared to be fouled on the arm while driving to the rim, but nothing was called.
Many will say just turnabout is fair play for the many times the Blue Devils got the benefit of more calls than their opponents and those people aren’t entirely wrong.
You just hate to see such a big game; such a great game, come down to some questionable calls, no calls and just so many calls against one team. But it is what it is, and you can’t change it. Good teams win regardless.
The bottom line is Syracuse is a good team and a serious contender for the National Title and the clear cut favorite now to win the ACC Regular season title. That said, we also learned a lot about Duke as well and it is clear this is a much better team than the one that dropped games at Notre Dame and Clemson.
The question is can they bring the same level of play, minus all the fouls, game in and game out. Considering how they played, even without their best player on the floor, it is hard not to see this team being a tough out come March.
Duke wraps up a tough four game stretch with a 3-1 record. They head into a bit easier part of their schedule but must maintain the same intensity and continue to improve and not allow this one loss to linger.
The Blue Devils get another crack at Syracuse in Cameron later this month but have a road trip to Chapel Hill between now and then and that game is always crucial for both teams.
