Syracuse, N.Y. – It took just four minutes for Duke to put an end to any hopes of a Syracuse upset -- or even a competitive game -- at the Carrier Dome on Saturday.
Duke looked every bit the nation’s seventh-ranked team, while Syracuse exhibited all the problems associated with spent hovering around the .500 mark, and the Blue Devils downed the Orange 97-72 in front of 31,803 fans.
>> Box score
It was the second-biggest home loss for Syracuse during Jim Boeheim’s 46-year tenure. Virginia beat Syracuse 79-53 on March 4, 2019.
The final score hardly reflected Duke’s dominance. The Blue Devils jumped out to a 14-0 lead and extended it to as many as 30 points in the opening half.
Syracuse didn’t score for the game’s first four minutes.
The Blue Devils made 12 of their first 13 shots from the field. Duke opened the game by hitting seven of its first eight shots from 3-point range.
Syracuse needed to close the half with a 16-3 run just to make the halftime score 51-34. Duke’s 51 first-half points were the most scored against Syracuse this season. The 97 points were the most for Duke in an ACC game this year.
Colgate, which beat SU 100-85 on Nov. 20, is the only team to score more against Syracuse in a regulation game this season.
The loss dropped Syracuse’s record to 15-14 overall and 9-9 in the ACC. Duke (25-4, 15-3) continued to roll toward its first regular-season ACC championship since 2010.
Buddy Boeheim scored 23 points to lead the Orange, but Duke countered with a trio of NBA lottery picks. Paolo Banchero scored 21 points, 7-foot-1 center Mark Williams had a career-high 28 points and 12 rebounds, and freshman guard A.J. Griffin added 20 points on 6-for-9 3-point shooting.
The game featured the two winningest coaches in college basketball history in Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski and Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim.
Krzyzewski, who has led Duke to five national titles, has announced that this will be his final year on the sideline.
Saturday’s win upped Krzyzewski’s career win total to 1,195. Boeheim remained at 1,098 career wins.
The game served as a stark reminder of just how wide the gap is between these two programs.
It was just eight years ago that Syracuse was beating Duke in overtime at the Dome. It was just five years ago when John Gillon’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer lifted the Orange to victory. And it was just four years ago that Syracuse fought Duke tooth-and-nail in a Sweet 16 loss in the 2018 NCAA tournament.
Now, Duke could be contending for its sixth NCAA championship under retiring coach Mike Krzyzewski and Syracuse is hoping to avoid its first losing season since 1969.
Prior to this season, Duke’s largest margin of victory against Syracuse was 19 in a 73-54 in the 2014-15 season. This year, however, Duke handed Syracuse 20-point and 25-point defeats. Duke beat Syracuse 79-59 in Durham on Jan. 22 in another game in which the Blue Devils led by as many as 30 points.
Since that game, Duke got freshman guard Trevor Keels back from a foot injury, while Syracuse lost starting center Jesse Edwards for the remainder of the season with a fractured wrist suffered in a win over Boston College on Feb. 8.
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