The first half of Duke vs Syracuse was starting to look like a lot of games Duke has had this season. Letting teams stick around because of points off of turnovers. The Blue Devils spotted Syracuses 15 of their 27 points off of their turnovers. Despite the giveaways the Blue Devils were able to still walk off the court at the half with a 13 point lead mostly due to hot shooting. Duke abused the Syracuse zone in the first half to the tune of 57.1% shooting from beyond the arc. Freshmen Dariq Whitehead and Tyree Proctor combined in the first stanza to shoot 5-7 from 3. Still the Cuse ended the half on a 6-0 run to steal a little momentum.
Dariq Whitehead connected on his first three-pointer attempt of the second half, matching his career-high for most shots made from beyond the arc in a game this season. The deep ball pushed the freshman to 14 points and made it a 47-33 edge for the Blue Devils. The Orange would pull within 9 before a six-point run spanning just under two minutes by Duke extended the Blue Devils’ lead to 16, 53-37, at the first media timeout of the second half.
Kyle Filipowski’s second three-pointer of the game with 9:01 remaining in the game pushed him into double-figures and gave the freshman his 12th double-double of the season. The Westtown, N.Y., native has scored in double-figures in 23 of Duke’s 27 games so far this year.
The Blue Devils would cruise to a 22 point victory led by their captain Jeremy Roach would scored a team high 17 points. Duke got 14 apiece rom Dariq Whitehead and Kyle Filipowski. Whitehead scored his 14 on 5-7 shooting and 4-6 from beyond the arc. Filipowski added 12 rebounds and shot 5-11 and 2-3 from beyond the arc.
Pluses:
- The Blue Devils shot a red hot 50% from the 3-point line going 13-26.
- Duke won the rebounding battle 38-25
- 3 turnovers in the second half.
Minuses:
- 11 first half turnovers leading to 15 Cuse points
