College Basketball
- Matchup: #1 Duke Blue Devils (14-1, 3-0) vs. Syracuse Orange (11-5, 2-1)
- Date: Jan. 14th, 2019
- Time: 7:00 pm
- Network: ESPN
- Location: Durham, North Carolina, USA
- Venue: Cameron Indoor Stadium
- Seating Capacity: 9,314
Battle of the Hall of Famers
Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski and Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim face off for the first of two meetings this year in a battle of the Hall of Famers. Syracuse comes into Cameron Indoor Stadium looking to rebound from a loss to Georgia Tech at home. Duke enters the game rolling, coming off of a wire-to-wire affair with Florida State, where Duke won at the buzzer with a Cam Reddish three.
Confident Cam Reddish
Reddish entered the game against Florida State struggling mightily. In six games prior, Reddish was 15/59 from the field, good for just .254%. Against Florida State, the freshman played lights out, scoring 23 points on 9/15 shooting and knocking down the game-winning three. Coach K remained confident in his star freshman throughout his slump, so much so that the final shot against FSU was designed to be taken by Reddish. Reddish stepped up for the Blue Devils after Zion Williamson was forced to sit out the second half due to injury.
The Starters
Syracuse
Guard – #25 Tyus Battle
Guard – #23 Frank Howard
Small Forward – #33 Elijah Hughes
Forward – #11 Oshae Brissett
Forward – #21 Marek Dolezaj
The Orange return all five starters from a team that made a run to the 2018 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16, where they were taken down by Duke. This year, though, has been a disappointment so far. In the preseason AP Poll, Syracuse was ranked at #16. Now, they see themselves as unranked and lacking a strong NCAA tournament resume. The Orange still can’t be looked over, as they are still very dangerous. On offense, they have NBA prospect Tyus Battle, who leads the Orange in scoring with 17.1 points per game. Their other starting guard, Frank Howard, is the teams assist leader, averaging 3.7 assists per game. Another lead contributor is Oshae Brissett, who is nearly averaging a double-double, with 13.9 points and 8.1 rebounds per game.
On defense, Syracuse will enter with their 2-3 zone. Despite every opponent, they have to know that it’s coming, the Orange 2-3 is extremely difficult to game plan for and execute against. Syracuse has forced opponents to turn the ball over an average of 16.4 times per game while also blocking 4.5 shots per game. To beat the zone, Duke needs a stellar shooting performance beyond the arc. Tre Jones will also be a large factor. If he can split the front two defenders, Jones can lob it up for Zion Williamson or he can find a cutting RJ Barrett.
Duke’s Key
If Duke shoots it at an above average clip from beyond the three-point line, they will roll to a blow out win. Cam Reddish is in line for a big game against a 2-3 zone, which is a shooters paradise.
Syracuse’s Key
Syracuse needs to take Zion Williamson away from the baseline. Tre Jones, the best point guard in America, and Duke will make a killing off of splitting the top two defenders and lobbing it up to Williamson. If the Orange can contain the baseline Williamson lobs, Syracuse can look for an NCAA Tournament resume boost.
Prediction
Tre Jones makes it known to America that he is the best distributor in the Nation while Syracuse’s lack of size down low us unable to contain Zion Williamson from going up and finishing off lobs.
Duke: 88
Syracuse: 71
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