No. 4 Duke used a staunch defensive effort to knock off Syracuse 73-54 Saturday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium. After letting Virginia Tech shoot almost 70 percent in the first half of Wednesday's game, the Blue Devils came out aggressive on the defensive end Saturday, holding the Orange to just 30.6 percent shooting en route to their ninth straight win:
Revisiting the three keys to the game:
- Figure out how to stop pick-and-rolls involving Jahlil Okafor: The Orange opted to go at Okafor in the post and the freshman responded with arguably his best defensive game of the season. The Chicago native forced Syracuse's Rakeem Christmas to struggle for much of the night and held him to just 11 points on 3-of-6 shooting from the floor. Okafor blocked shot on one of Christmas' drives to the basket was a welcome sign for the Blue Devils—who will need the freshman to defend well consistently to advance deep in postseason play.
- Contain Gbinije: After shredding Duke with 27 points and 5-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc in the first matchup between the teams, Gbinije struggled to get it going Saturday. The 6-foot-7 forward finished with just 12 points on 5-of-20 shooting from the floor and the Blue Devils did a much better job limiting his air space and play-making ability. The Duke transfer struggled to make his impact on the game and hurt his team with missed numerous shots in the paint. With their best creator neutralized, the Orange played one of their worst offensive games of the season.
- Utilize the bench: The Blue Devils continued to get very little to no production from their second unit. Head coach Mike Krzyzewski once again opted to play each starter 30 or more minutes and reserves Marshall Plumlee, Amile Jefferson and Grayson Allen combined to score only two points in their 27 minutes of action. In particular, Jefferson and Allen seem to be struggling from a lack of confidence and Plumlee has had difficulty defending without fouling in recent games. The lack of production hasn't hurt Duke yet, but it seems unlikely that the Blue Devils can achieve their goals without getting more from their new bench trio.
Three key plays:
- 9:41 remaining, first half: With Duke off to a slow start offensively, a Matt Jones three-pointer ignited the Cameron Crazies and gave the Blue Devils a 17-14 lead they would never relinquish. The basket was Duke's first from beyond the arc and provided a recipe for beating Syracuse's zone that the Blue Devils would come back to throughout the contest. The points also helped get Jones—who finished with nine points—involved on offense.
- 15:08 remaining, second half: In the midst of one of his best performances of the season, Justise Winslow knocked down a three-point jumper off a pass from Tyus Jones. The basket earned the freshman a high-five from Krzyzewski—much to the delight of the crowd—as Duke stretched the lead to 44-31. Winslow's jumper once again showed his ability to stretch the floor and bust the Orange's famous 2-3 zone.
- 11:17 remaining, second half: After struggling mightily throughout the game, Quinn Cook was finally able to connect from downtown. The senior finished just 1-of-8 from beyond the arc—including a couple of airballs— and simply could not find the range for most of the night. But as he has all season, the Washington native came up big in the second half, ending up with 17 points after he got it going with this corner triiple.
Three key stats:
- Justise Winslow has a career-high three blocks: The Houston native made his presence felt in the paint with his defensive rotations, which allowed him to fly in from the blind side and make a couple of basket-saving blocks. Winslow also made life difficult for Syracuse guard Trevor Cooney, Gbinije and the Orange big men with his length and activity all over the court.
- Duke commits 17 turnovers: The Blue Devils' struggles taking care of the basketball—in the first half especially—allowed the Orange to hang around a lot longer than necessary. Freshman Tyus Jones committed six turnovers for the second time in the last four games and was occasionally careless with the basketball. Duke will need to get back to playing clean basketball for the remainder of the season and against better defensive teams in the ACC and NCAA tournaments.
- Blue Devils go 9-16 from the charity stripe: Duke's struggles from the foul line were heavily skewed by Okafor's rough 1-of-7 performance from the line. The center has battled rough stretches of free-throw shooting all season and will need to improve this aspect of the game in order to carry his team in March. Poor free-throw shooting remains one of the big issues that has allowed teams to stay in the game with the Blue Devils. But the fact that Duke continues to win despite adversity also bodes well for a team that appears poised for a postseason run.
And the Duke game ball goes to...Justise Winslow
The swingman was the x-factor for the Blue Devils against the zone and delivered with a career day. Winslow finished with a career-high 23 points on 10-of-16 shooting, including 3-of-5 from 3-point range, and added nine rebounds, three blocks and two steals. The 6-foot-6, 225-pound forward almost exclusively plays at the four now because of the matchup nightmare he is for opposing defenses, and he showed once again why he gives Duke a different gear Saturday night.
When Winslow is playing with pace and attacking in transition, the Blue Devils are a different team. That team has won its last nine games after a slow start to ACC play and looks like a legitimate title contender when firing on all cylinders. Even more impressive is that Winslow is performing at such a high level late in the year despite playing with a fractured rib and wearing a protective sleeve underneath his jersey—a fact Krzyzewski revealed after Saturday's contest.
And the Syracuse game ball goes to...Tyler Roberson
Roberson was fantastic in the teams' first matchup Feb. 14 and had another strong outing against Duke Saturday night, scoring 16 points on 5-of-9 shooting and adding nine rebounds. The power forward took advantage of the fact that the Blue Devils played small and paid enormous attention to Christmas, but was simply unable to get help from his teammates—mainly Cooney and Gbinije. The Orange won't be playing in the postseason, but Roberson's performances against Duke this year indicate that he could be ready to fill Christmas' shoes down low for head coach Jim Boeheim next year.
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