The new look Syracuse Orange entered Cameron Indoor with swagger and confidence boasting a 5-game winning streak as well as notching the first ACC victory for their new head coach Adrian Autry against Pitt. The Blue Devils were on a streak of their own, winning 4 games in a row after dropping 2 straight and needing their first ACC win.
The first half, though sloppily played was competitive with Syracuse doing what they do well, getting to the free throw line and hitting tough shots in the lane. Duke did a fairly good job of shutting down the Orange potent guard tandem holding Judah Mintz and JJ Starling to a combined 4-12 in the first half and holding Syracuse to just 2-8 from 3. Unfortunately for the Blue Devils their outside shot disappeared as well as the Blue Devils failed to hit a 3 in the first half. Dukes cold shooting coupled with Kyle Filipowski’s foul trouble could have spelled a first half disaster for the Blue Devils. Enter Mark Mitchell – Mitchell has had a year of offensive struggles so far this season but Tuesday night was Mitchell’s night. Mitchell and Duke’s ability to find him cutting to the basket kept Duke afloat in the first half as Mitchell posted 18 points on 6-8 shooting in the first half alone. Mitchell also recorded 5 boards and a blocked shot as well in the half on his way to a career high 21 points for the game. Duke carried a 2 point advantage into the half.
The second half saw the Blue Devils right the ship offensively. The teams traded baskets for the first 5 minutes of the first half drawing even in second half scoring before the Blue Devils went on a 28-14 run to push their lead to 18 points. The second half saw two things happen for the Blue Devils: They decided to stop trading baskets and started getting stops, turning the Orange over 8 times in the second half and scoring 15 points off of those turnovers. The other thing the Blue Devils started doing in the second half – hitting shots. As bad as the Blue Devils were from 3 in the first half (0-9) they were pure perfection in the second half (8-8). The Blue Devils spread the scoring around in the second half. Mark Mitchell’s huge first half was followed by big outputs in the second half including from Jared McCain who scored 14 on 4-6 shooting including 4-4 from 3-point range. Kyle Filipowski turned his awful start to the game, only playing 7 minutes and going 0-2 from the field, to a second half that saw the sophomore put up 12 points, going 5-5 from the field. Tyrese Proctor and Jeremy Roach both added double-figure outputs to the Blue Devil second half total with Proctor scoring 10 and Jeremy Roach 12. For the game Proctor scored 14 points and dished 4 assists and Jeremy Roach finished the game with 17 points including 2 big 3-pointers in the second half.
The Blue Devils coasted to a 20 point win in a game that until the 14 minute mark of the second half was ultra competitive. Duke was able to outscore the Orange 51-33 in the second half on great offense cued by great defense.
The Good:
- Duke’s second half shooting was insane. Duke shot 75% from the field, 100% from 3, 87.5 from the free throw line in the second half.
- Five Blue Devils scored in double figures for the second time this season.
- Duke’s defense held Syracuse to 66 points, 12.4 below its season average of 78.4 points. The Blue Devils have now held each of their 13 opponents below their respective scoring average.
- The Blue Devils’ defense also tallied a season-high 11 steals for the second straight game and forced 17 turnovers, yielding 26 points off Orange miscues.
- Duke converted 16-of-18 from the charity stripe for a season-high 88.9% free-throw shooting effort.
The Bad
- Another slow start for both Duke and Kyle Filipowski
- Blue Devils were out-rebounded by Syracuse (by 1)
- First half foul trouble forcing Duke to shuffle lineups
