Duke Thrashes Syracuse, 83-54

As the Blue Devils utterly dominated the ‘Cuse

Both offenses started slowly Wednesday night as Duke ultimately dominated Syracuse, 83-54.

Kon Knueppel started things off for Duke with a layup about nine seconds into the game. Tyrese Proctor missed three shots and Duke forced a shot clock violation two minutes in and with 16:04 to play in the first half, the score was just 4-2.

Duke got going when Isaiah Evans, Tyrese Proctor and Sion James hit three straight threes to push the Blue Devils out to a 17-9 lead and from there on out, it was basically Duke’s half.

Syracuse managed 14 more points but Duke took a 37-23 lead into halftime as Proctor and Knueppel both hit for nine and Flagg had seven.

Duke’s defense really squeezed the Orange in the first half. JJ Starling had the first seven points for his side; he finished the half with the same seven.

Other than Jyare Davis and Naheem McLeod, no one shot better than 33 percent and the team overall hit 35.7 percent overall and 30 percent from deep. Starling finished the half 3-9.

While Syracuse did rebound well, with big Eddie Lampkin grabbing five and the team pulling down 19, turnovers hurt as the Orange coughed it up seven times to just one for the Blue Devils. And we could be wrong, but we don’t think that Syracuse got a single point in transition.

In general, at halftime, Duke was firmly in control.

Duke opened the second half with a steal and a Knueppel three to push the lead to 17.

The Blue Devils went into Maluach three times early, but he missed two lobs and one jumper.

It didn’t much matter. Duke had three steals in the first 4:15 of the second and built a 44-27 lead when Lucas Taylor got whistled for a flagrant foul trying to stop Maliq Brown on a fast break.

And it got easier from there. If you tuned in and had the sound down, you could tell pretty quickly that Duke was rolling. Why?

The smiles.

The Blue Devils were loose, confident and laid into Syracuse, taking the ball away, getting out in transition and having fun.

It was clear that these two teams are on different trajectories.

It also seemed like his teammates really wanted Brown to do well in his return to Syracuse, which speaks well of everyone, and when Caleb Foster scored on a drive, his teammates roared.

We worried that this could be a trap game, but in the end, while Syracuse had some nice plays in spots, the Orange didn't really present a serious challenge for the Blue Devils.

That will likely come on Saturday, when Duke visits Clemson.

Notes - Duke left Mason Gillis at home due to illness...it must have been difficult for the Orange to see Brown playing as well as he did...Caleb Foster has had some rough games lately but he played well here...people who judge Flagg by points will think he had a bad game but that’s far, far from the truth...Syracuse didn’t hit a free throw until there was just 2:49 left to play...