Duke vs Syracuse Preview
ACC QUARTERFINALS | THUR., MARCH 10, 2022 | BARCLAYS CENTER | BROOKLYN, NY
Duke in the ACCT
Overall Record 105-45 (.700)
In Brooklyn, NY 5-1 (.833)
In Quarterfinals 43-19 (.694)
Versus Syracuse 1-0 (1.000)
As No. 1-seed 37-8 (.822)
Versus No. 9-seed 4-0 (1.000)
TV
Network ESPN
Play-by-Play Dan Shulman
Analyst Jay Bilas
Sideline Holly Rowe
Producer Eric Mosley
Stream WatchESPN
RADIO
Network Blue Devil Sports
Play-by-Play David Shumate
Analyst John Roth
Engineer John Rose
Stream GoDuke.com; Varsity app
Sirius/XM TBD
Duke vs Syracuse:
Entering the ACC Tournament as the overall No. 1-seed and the outright ACC regular season champion, No. 7 Duke battles Syracuse on Thursday in the quarterfinals at 12 p.m.
Syracuse
Syracuse entered the ACC Tournament on a 4 game losing streak but exorcised those demons against a hapless Florida State team. The Orange dominated the Seminoles winning 96-57. They were able to hold FSU to just 32.4% shooting including 8% from the 3-point line while shooting over 50% from the field themselves.
Cole Swider led the Orange with a game high 28 points, going 9-15 from the field and 4-6 from beyond the arc.
On the season Buddy Boeheim led the Orange in scoring with 19.3 points per game. Joe Girard was the leading assist man at 4.2 per game, adding 13.4 points tying him with senior Swider for second on the team. Swider also leads the team in rebounds at 6.6 per game.
Duke
Duke closed the season winning seven of its last eight games, including eight consecutive road ACC wins. The Blue Devils played eight of their final 12 games this season away from Cameron Indoor but the Blue Devils have some demons of their own to contend with dropping their last regular season game by double digits to rival UNC in Coach K’s Cameron curtain call. The Blue Devils own the ACC Tournament’s most wins (105), best winning percentage (.700) and most titles (21). Under Mike Krzyzewski, Duke is 67-23 (.744) in the ACC Tournament with 15 titles — the most by a coach in conference history. Duke’s win over Kentucky in the Champions Classic at Madison Square Garden in November was the program’s 100th all-time game in the greater NYC area (73-27, .730). That includes 45-25 in NYC, 7-1 in Brooklyn and 21-1 in East Rutherford, N.J.
Over the last six games, five different Blue Devils led the team in scoring, including freshman Trevor Keels’ career-high 27 at Pitt on March 1. For the season, Duke has five players averaging double figures in points, led by freshman Paolo Banchero’s 17.1. Banchero was a third-team All-America pick by the Sporting News — the 75th All-American in program history (52nd under Coach K).
Sophomore Mark Williams was named the ACC Defensive Player of the Year and third-team All-ACC, while Paolo Banchero was named Freshman of the Year and first-team All-ACC. Junior Wendell Moore Jr., was named second-team All-ACC, while freshman AJ Griffin was an honorable mention All-ACC selection. Williams and Moore were All-Defensive picks, while Banchero, Trevor Keels and AJ Griffin were named to the All-Freshman Team.
Duke vs Syracuse: Keys to the Game
Duke has been able to handle Syracuse with relative ease this season winning by 20 or more in both games. If Syracuse is playing like they did against a normally decent defensive FSU team they may have very well found some renewed fire. Duke matches up with Syracuse very well and pressuring their backcourt has paid dividends, turning starting point guard Joe Girard over 3 times in the first game and 4 times in the second game. Shooting versus the zone has also worked out in the Blue Devils favor as they’ve averaged 42% from beyond the arc in their two meetings. Duke has held Syracuse to 22.5% shooting from beyond the arc this season. The Blue Devils have also controlled the boards out-rebounding the Orange by 23 combined in 2 game.
There are several other variables at play:
- Does Buddy Boeheim play? There was an incident that the ACC will most likely review involving what looked like a punch thrown by Boeheim.
- Have the Blue Devils mentally recovered from the beating they took at home versus UNC? Will it be fight or flight for Duke.
- Have we seen a new look Cole Swider? Swider has always had the reputation as a shooter but has been somewhat inconsistent. Swider has been a very up and down player his scoring outputs over the past 4 games have been 28, 6, 36, 2, 11. Will be explode versus the Blue Devils or fizzle out as the pattern indicates.
DUKE VS SYRACUSE
OVERALL STAT COMPARISON
| Team | G | MP | FG | FGA | FG% | 2P | 2PA | 2P% | 3P | 3PA | 3P% | FT | FTA | FT% | ORB | DRB | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | PF | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
31 | 40.2 | 29.8 | 61.0 | .489 | 21.5 | 38.9 | .552 | 8.3 | 22.1 | .377 | 12.4 | 17.0 | .731 | 10.7 | 27.8 | 38.5 | 17.2 | 6.5 | 5.5 | 10.3 | 13.7 | 80.4 |
 |
31 | 40.8 | 27.4 | 60.9 | .450 | 18.5 | 37.2 | .498 | 8.9 | 23.7 | .375 | 13.0 | 17.6 | .735 | 10.3 | 25.4 | 35.7 | 14.2 | 7.0 | 3.7 | 10.8 | 14.2 | 76.7 |
DUKE VS SYRACUSE
CONFERENCE STAT COMPARISON
| Team | G | MP | FG | FGA | FG% | 2P | 2PA | 2P% | 3P | 3PA | 3P% | FT | FTA | FT% | ORB | DRB | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | PF | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
20 | 40.3 | 28.8 | 59.0 | .488 | 20.8 | 38.0 | .546 | 8.0 | 21.0 | .382 | 11.7 | 16.4 | .716 | 10.9 | 27.9 | 38.7 | 16.5 | 4.9 | 5.6 | 10.9 | 13.8 | 77.2 |
|
20 | 40.8 | 26.6 | 60.8 | .437 | 17.4 | 36.1 | .482 | 9.2 | 24.7 | .370 | 12.4 | 16.8 | .740 | 10.6 | 25.0 | 35.6 | 13.6 | 6.1 | 3.5 | 10.3 | 14.6 | 74.7 |
PROJECTED STARTING LINEUPS
DUKE VS SYRACUSE
Duke Blue Devils
G Trevor Keels 6’4, 221lbs – Freshman
G / F Wendell Moore 6’5, 213lbs – Junior
F AJ Griffin 6’6, 222lbs – Freshman
F Paolo Banchero 6’10, 250lbs – Freshman
C Mark Williams 7’1, 242lbs – Sophomore
Syracuse
G Joseph Girard III 6’1, 190lbs – Junior
G Buddy Boeheim 6’6, 205lbs – Senior
F Jimmy Boeheim 6’8, 225lbs – Graduate Student
F Cole Swider 6’9, 220lbs – Senior
C Frank Anselem 6’10, 215lbs – Sophomore
