Syracuse kept up with Duke for about the first 11 1/2 minutes but after that it was all Duke in a 101-64 blowout.
For the first few minutes, Syracuse did play well and to their credit they competed hard throughout. But Duke was just much, much better in this one.
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How much better?
Cameron Boozer had a double-double – in the first half. And arguably, he was the second-best player for Duke in that half, behind Isaiah Evans.
Duke dominated in nearly every facet. Although the Blue Devils started slow from outside, that changed as the game went on. And they dominated around the basket despite William Kyle’s best efforts at controlling the lane.
Boozer and Evans were particularly difficult for Syracuse to control. Boozer finished with 22 points and 12 rebounds while Evans racked up 21.
Evans in particular showed a lot of growth and toughness. He’s a long way from the three-point specialist he was as a freshman. He drove the lane, he faked, he muscled around the basket. It was a really solid performance on his part.
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You know who else was incredibly impressive? Dame Sarr.
That guy is turning into an unbelievable defender. He’s been so aggressive that the crowd is actually oohing and aahhing over how he’s just smothering guys on defense. It’s pretty unusual to see someone who is that quick on defense and he’s 6-7. When he’s on, what can you do? He’s emerging as a devastating defender.
Pat Ngongba has had some erratic performances this year, notably at Louisville and UNC. Not this time.
Ngongba finished with 12 points and 7 rebounds and was aggressive inside without getting into foul trouble.
Caleb Foster didn’t score much – just one three – but he ran the team well. He also had no turnovers. Here’s an incredibly impressive stat, by the way: Duke had just 4 turnovers all game.
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Maliq Brown, Nik Khamenia and Cayden Boozer were all great off the bench. Brown did his usual things – defending guys in ways they could never expect and scoring and passing efficiently. He finished with 6 points and 5 assists and several surprises for the Orange.
As for Khamenia, this was a really good game from him. He finished with 14 points on 5-7/3-3 from the floor and played with immense confidence, which was great to see. In his last few games he’s seemed to lack that at times. He was a huge factor.
So was Cayden Boozer.
He’s emerged as a steady player and one who tends to make particularly smart plays in winning time. Those won’t always show up in a box score, but they still count. He gets those plays right an amazing number of times.
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Check out his stat line here: 12 points on 5-6/2-3 from the floor, with 1 rebound, 4 assists, 0 turnovers and 3 steals.
Not bad.
In the end, Syracuse played hard and never quit, but the lead just kept growing. Soon after the half, it swelled past 20, then past 25 and ultimately to 37 by the end.
There’s just not a lot to pick over here. Could Duke have been better at the line? Yeah, that might be a problem in a tighter game. The Blue Devils shot just 13-20 (65%). However, of those 7 misses, Sarr missed all 4 of his attempts, which skews things a bit.
In general, this game was a Cameron thrill ride, especially in the second half. Everyone played well and more importantly, played well together.
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Now it’s on to Michigan Saturday, and that game is going to be really interesting and a great stress test for both teams.
Notes – William Kyle also missed all four of his free throw attempts and he may have the ugliest form we’ve ever seen…he’s tall and athletic but other than blocking shots and dunking, he hasn’t leveraged it much…Cameron Sheffield got in late and got a three and a rebound…Duke’s bigs got 9 assists between them…Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel and Khaman Maluach were all in attendance, as was Steve Wojciechowski, among other former Blue Devils…Syracuse is now 15-12 and a 37-point loss will cause more hot-seat talk for Adrian Autry…Nate Kingz had a tough childhood…he’s an easy guy to pull for and we hope he keeps rising…JJ Starling shot just 3-13…Duke and Sarr harassed Naithan George into 4 turnovers…
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