Playing against a ninth-place team that was missing the league’s leading scorer, Duke flirted with elimination before surviving in the ACC Tournament, 88-79 over Syracuse.
The Blue Devils jumped out in front of Syracuse by 11 points and appeared ready to roll to a third blowout win over the Orange this season. But Syracuse had other plans.
“We started the game well,” said coach Mike Krzyzewski. “Then we fell in love with the three-point shot and thought it was going to be easy. They got momentum. We started fouling, and then it was a hell of a game.”
Buddy Boeheim, who led the ACC in scoring, was forced to sit out the game after being suspended by the league for a punch he threw in Wednesday’s win over Florida State. With Boeheim, Syracuse lost at Duke by 20 and at home by 25 in the regular season. Without him, Duke hit six early threes to go up 24-13 at the under-12 time out.
That’s when Syracuse got up off the mat.
Led by Boeheim’s younger brother Jimmy, the Orange began making shots. Syracuse went on an 10-0 run to erase most of the lead, then closed the half on an 8-0 run to lead by four.
Jimmy Boeheim III hit six of his first seven three-pointers and scored 28 points for the game.
“Jimmy was 0-for-7 from three over the last four games,” said Krzyzewski. “He played like a big-time player today. … I knew Jimmy would pick up for Buddy.”
Joseph Girard III added 23 points on 4-of-11 three-point shooting, and Cole Swider scored 15. Syracuse knocked down 13 treys for the game and led by as many as seven.
Duke was able to battle back, however, led by Jeremy Roach, who went 4-for-5 on three pointers in the second half. His five treys in the game were fourth most in Duke ACC Tournament history and the most by a Blue Devil since 2006.
“The guy that really turned it around for us was Jeremy,” said Krzyzewski.
Wendell Moore added 26 points and eight assists, while Mark Williams had 15 points, 16 rebounds, four assists and three blocks. Paolo Banchero flirted with a triple-double, finishing with 10 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and five steals—the second-highest steal total in Duke ACC tournament history.
Duke was slowed by illness.
“The program got hit with food poisoning or whatever bug,” said Krzyzewski. “AJ (Griffin), we weren’t sure if he was going to play. He tried to play (and scored four points). He was throwing up. (Assistant coach) Chris Carrawell and I were throwing up all day yesterday. I’m hoping it’s not a bug that goes through the team. A few of the kids are not up to par. Hopefully, by tomorrow, we’re in much better shape.”
Duke was also haunted by last weekend’s loss to North Carolina in Coach K’s final home game, as the Tar Heels rallied late to win. Memories of that came back as Syracuse refused to go away.
“Against North Carolina, we got that feeling of defeat,” said Williams. “That was going through my mind. ‘We lose this game, and we’re done.’”
Instead, Duke finished with a 10-0 run.
“We had that look in our eyes,” said Moore. “We were going to get this done. At the (under four time out) we said, ‘We’re going to get three stops and three scores.’ Everybody knew what we were doing. I saw that look in everybody’s eyes: We’re not losing this game.”
The Blue Devils will play in the ACC Tournament semifinals on Friday.
