The Duke Blue Devils had a great reason to be confident on Thursday despite a bitter loss to North Carolina last Saturday. Syracuse was their opponent and leading scorer Buddy Boeheim served a one-game suspension because he punched Florida State’s Wyatt Wilkes in the ACC Quarterfinal.
Wendell Moore’s drive and a dish to Jeremy Roach for a three-pointer helped Duke survive a legitimate scare from Syracuse. An 88-79 win advances them to the ACC Semifinals on Friday and a date with Miami. Miami defeated Duke 76-74 on January 8 of the regular season.
Duke jumped to a 19-11 lead on eight second-chance points. Wendell Moore was 3-3 from beyond the arc during that stretch. Joseph Girard III drew fouls on Trevor Keels and Mark Williams and hit free throws to close the deficit to 24-23. With two threes from Jimmy Boeheim and a layup from Symir Torrence, an 8-0 run placed Syracuse ahead 33-30 at 6:48. Syracuse finished the half up 40-36 following Girard’s contested made a jumper at the buzzer.
Boeheim made his first three shots of the second half, including two three-pointers. Duke didn’t let the lead get too far and put home a series of layups in the opening minutes. Moore’s free throws at 13:29 put Duke ahead 57-55.
Boeheim gave Syracuse a 79-78 lead with a rebound tip-in from Girard’s jumper at 3:38. Duke took control when Paolo Banchero went into the body of Bourama Sidibe to bank it in for an 82-79 advantage. Syracuse heaved desperation threes and wouldn’t score again. Moore led Duke with 26 points and eight assists. Jeremy Roach had 19 points on 5-10 three-point shooting. The Blue Devil’s assist-to-made field goal rate was 79 percent for the second half. Boeheim had a season-high 28 points on 6-9 from three-point range.
The Blue Devils deviated from their first-half style of play where they shot 22 three-pointers and mostly refused to drive to the basket. The Orange Triangle and 2 defense held the Blue Devils to 14 paint points in the first half.
After 44 years, Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim experienced his first losing season with the team finishing 16-17. In all but three seasons, the team has qualified for postseason play under Boeheim. Duke won all three games against Syracuse in the 2021-2022 season.
