Duke and Syracuse had the basketball equivalent of hand-to-hand combat Friday night. It wasn’t easy but Duke won 69-65 to advance to the Elite Eight where they’ll face a hot bunch of Kansas Jayhawks.
First: full props to Syracuse. This team had some serious issues this season and barely made the field. When they got their chance they really made the most of it, getting all the way to the Sweet Sixteen and just missing the Elite Eight. Their selection was controversial; their performance was anything but.
Certainly they gave Duke fits.
The lead seesawed back and forth for most of the first half before Duke moved ahead 28-27 and never looked back. Syracuse cut the lead to one a couple of times in the second half. Duke was always able to extend it again though.
And in the closing minutes, though it was nervewracking, Duke held on.
The coaching staff will have a lot of what Grant Hill used to call PGA (post-game analysis) when his dad Calvin did it and we suspect they’ll focus heavily on late mistakes that could have cost Duke dearly:
- First, the missed lob to Bagley. He got caught in a funny position but taking it off the rim was a mental error.
- Second, allowing Tyus Battle to hit a three. Duke had defended the three very well against the ‘Cuse.
- Third, the open court foul by Wendell Carter that sent Frank Howard to to the line to cut the lead to three.
- Fourth, allowing the very slender Marek Dolezaj to tip in a missed shot with :17 to go to cut the lead back to three.
- Fifth, the foul on Grayson Allen with :07 left that gave Battle a chance to cut Duke’s lead to one (he missed his first free throw and cut it to 67-65.
There are always plenty of things to analyze and correct, but we suspect making mistakes in winning time is going to get a thorough discussion. It’s not very Duke-like.
But there were other things to look at, some of which may not be that relevant later.
Syracuse pushed Duke into shooting 26 threes. Allen took 14 and made just three and late in the second half Duke had trouble penetrating the zone.
Trevon Duval, who has been pretty steady lately, had three turnovers. He remains a work in progress with moments of brilliance.
In the first half, Syracuse really hammered Duke on the boards which was unexpected.
It got a lot better in the second half.
Duke ended up with more offensive rebounds than the Orange (16-14) and were close overall (37-33).
Marvin Bagley, who Syracuse severely limited early, came on in the second half. We think all six of his offensive boards came after halftime.
We didn’t think to count lobs but there were a bunch. Syracuse found awkward big man Paschal Chukwu three times early. He’s usually a minimal offensive threat but finished with eight points and seven boards.
Duke found Bagley quite a bit too and his were electric.
Wendell Carter had a very solid game with 14 points and 12 boards. He was really solid against the much taller Chukwu.
Before the game, Syracuse’s Oshae Brissett talked about his poor game in Cameron and how he wanted to do better. He didn't shoot very well - Duke’s zone was imposing too and he shot just 5-15 - but finished with 17.
In Coach K’s early years, when he wasn’t getting the type of talent UNC, Maryland and NC State were getting, he neutralized that by driving hard and constantly and drawing fouls and scoring points when his guys couldn’t be defended. In this game, Duke had a solid advantage from the line, hitting 20-28 to Syracuse’s 11-17.
It wasn’t a perfect win, as we said earlier, but big whoop. Duke goes on to play Sunday and will get the Jayhawks. Big man (and very, very big man) Udoka Azubuike was very effective against Clemson as was late addition Silvio DeSousa.
Kansas plays a beautiful game of basketball. It’ll be an honor to see these two programs square off.
Poll
Player of the game vs. Syracuse
This poll is closed
-
16%
Grayson Allen
-
42%
Marvin Bagley
-
26%
Wendell Carter
-
10%
Gary Trent
-
0%
Trevon Duval
-
3%
Marques Bolden
-
0%
Javin DeLaurier
-
0%
Trevon Duval
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