The JMA Wireless Dome can be one of the more raucous arenas in college basketball, that wasn’t the case as Duke came to town. Even with the largest attendance in the country this season at 23,313 it was pin drop quiet in the city of Syracuse as the Blue Devils flexed on the hapless Orange.
Syracuse showed some signs of life in the first half, at least for the first 10 minutes, hanging within 5 of the Blue Devils. Duke used the next 10 minutes to go on a 23-16 run. Tyrese Proctor and Kon Knueppel led the way with 9 each for the Blue Devils in the first half. Duke shot 44% from the field, to just 35.7% for the Orange. Even with a plus 3 rebounding advantage, Syracuse still went down 14 at the half.
The Blue Devils wasted very little time coming out of the break, scoring five quick points, while forcing two early Syracuse turnovers to begin the half. The lead grew to 19, 46-27, following two free throws by Maliq Brown following the under-16 break. A two-hand stuff by Flagg, with 10:17 on the clock, gave the freshman 11 points, Duke’s fourth double-digit scorer. Syracuse was never able to get solve the Blue Devil defense, eventually folding 83-54.
The Blue Devil’s balanced scoring attack netted 5 players in double figures, led by junior Tyrese Proctor. Proctor scored a team high 16 points on 5-12 shooting and hitting 4-10 from beyond the arc. Freshman Kon Knueppel added 12 points, doing most of his damage in the first half. Knueppel was 5-5 from the charity stripe and added 2 steals. Cooper Flagg added 11 points, going 4-7 from the fields, adding 2 assists and 2 blocks. Isaiah Evans and Sion James added 10 points each. James added 4 assists and 3 steals and Evans added 4 assists and 4 boards, both career highs for the freshman. Evans added some extra electricity as he collected the carom from a Khaman Maluach blocked shot, soaring to the basket for a dunk in the second half. Maliq Brown, a transfer from Syracuse, posted an all-around performance in his return to the JMA Wireless Dome, securing a game-high eight rebounds to go with six points, three steals, one assist and one block. Brown led the team in +/-, finishing the contest at +24 in 22 minutes of play.
