Eleventh-seeded Syracuse gets a rematch against No. 2 seed Duke on Friday night when they face off in the Sweet 16 from the CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska.

On Feb. 24 at Cameron Indoor, then-No. 5 Duke won, 60-44. Members of the Duke student section chanted, “N-I-T!” near the end of the game, but Syracuse has since gone from last team in the Big Dance to the Sweet 16.

Below, beat writers Matthew Gutierrez, Sam Fortier and Tomer Langer break down the matchup.

1. Duke has embraced a 2-3 zone that Mike Krzyzewski learned in part from Jim Boeheim. How will Syracuse matchup with a Blue Devils team now thriving with that defense?

Matthew Gutierrez: Syracuse has encountered difficulty against zone defenses this season, largely because it spotlights the offensive problem that has undone SU in its losses: lack of movement. Before the NCAA Tournament, I offered three ways in which SU could boost offensive production. One involves Marek Dolezaj — more on him later — and the others center on attacking the basket and course correcting.

Head coach Jim Boeheim and players say the offense is at its best when guys are moving off-ball and attacking off the dribble. Backdoor passes, transition buckets, dribble handoffs and skip passes each could produce openings in the Duke defense, which isn’t as fantastic as some make it out to be. The Blue Devils allowed 70 points to Notre Dame two weeks ago and 67 points to No. 15 seed Iona in the first round of the Tournament.

Sam Fortier: Man, I have no idea. When Guti and I were at Cameron Indoor in late February, Duke’s length in the zone pressed Syracuse out so far the only way the Orange could catch the ball cleanly was at about half court. The Blue Devils missed their first 15 3-point attempts and still cruised because of their defense. It was as impressive a performance as we saw this year, and Boeheim joked that Duke shouldn’t be able to run their zone because it’s so good.

With elite big men and comparable size on the perimeter, the Blue Devils probably present the biggest matchup nightmare of the season, so I’d expect the Orange to try and capitalize on Marek Dolezaj’s hot hand and run either him or Oshae Brissett from the high post to penetrate a bit and make something work.

Tomer Langer: Well, we know how it’ll try to match up. Frank Howard, Tyus Battle and Oshae Brissett will have the ball in their hands for much of the game, and they’ll hope for the best. It’s been the formula all year. It obviously didn’t work against Duke the last two times, and it has been nothing more than the bare minimum of enough in the Tournament.

There’s something I’d like to see SU try that’s different: sticking Howard as the high post man. He had success on a few plays this past week when he was posting up smaller guards at the free throw line, either shooting over the top or finding the right passing lanes.

Obviously, that was against man defenses and not zone. But other teams have sent guards into the high post against the Orange in the past, since guards can make better decisions when the zone collapses.

Courtesy of Sanjeev Dasgupta | The Chronicle

2. Syracuse’s frontcourt has battled foul trouble in the last couple games. Is there anything SU can do to slow down probable NBA lottery picks Marvin Bagley III and Wendell Carter, Jr.?

M.G.: The lasting image from Durham last month was a lob behind the zone to Bagley III or Carter Jr., sending Cameron Indoor into a frenzy. We’ll see what Boeheim and Co. call up for the defensive game plan, but I think it starts with SU’s guards.

For the zone to be successful, SU players talk about “activeness.” When Battle and Howard are active, other parts of the D tend to fall into place. Stopping dribble penetration is a must and limiting skip- and cross-court passes will be imperative for the Orange’s success Friday night.

S.F.: This sort of feels like the last question. I mean, Syracuse should hope so but I’m not sure there’s tangible evidence to back up that claim. Other than Matthew Moyer’s block on a Bagley III turnaround the last game, there’s not much the Orange could do about them. They shot 13-for-20 in scoring 35 of Duke’s 60 points.

Syracuse hasn’t really played a team with two big men comparable to Bagley III and Carter, Jr., so the Orange should try to drive and create foul trouble while simultaneously hoping for off nights for both of them. That would be best-case scenario for Syracuse, and I’m still not sure that’d be enough.

T.L.: Probably not. Syracuse will probably just have to weather the storm and hope for some missed shots. Those two will eat up rebounds, but so did MSU’s players. Carter is a more proficient scorer than nearly anyone on MSU from the low block. The Orange can’t allow Bagley to have as many easy dunks as he did in the last game, and that’ll require more active play recognition from SU’s bigs.

3. Last time these two teams played, Syracuse executed its game plan and still lost by 16 points. What needs to change for the Orange to stay competitive?

M.G.: Involve Dolezaj. When he scores double digits, Syracuse is 6-0. Especially against the zone, his mid-range and inside game would create openings for Battle, Howard and Brissett to do their thing. Dolezaj has scored five, 17 and six points in three games this Tournament. For Syracuse to beat Duke, the freshman forward needs to score about 15 to 20, limit second-chances for the Blue Devils and grab a few boards.

S.F.: Syracuse needs to play suffocating defense and probably hold Duke to 60 points or fewer. Other than defense, which has been the highlight for the Orange this tournament season, the team needs to hit shots. I don’t say that facetiously, but Syracuse’s 31.5 percent shooting from the field (17-for-54) at Duke was its fourth-lowest mark of the season and prevented the Orange from hanging in there on a pretty good defensive night.

But it’s important to delineate that 3-pointers aren’t the key here. Against Michigan State, the Orange attempted eight, tied for a season-low, and made only one. MSU’s Miles Bridges, in comparison, attempted 12 himself. Maybe the Orange’s answer is just pounding the ball inside and trying to draw Duke bigs into foul trouble like North Carolina did against the Orange in the ACC tournament. Maybe.

T.L.: Howard and Battle need to get going early. Howard made a few nice shots in the first half and early in the second half against MSU before he fouled out. Battle had one point in the first half. They’ve been slow starters in the tournament, but so has the offense as a whole. These two need to be the catalysts. There will come a point in time when an opponent finds a small crack in the Orange’s zone. It’ll be up to Battle and Howard to keep the Orange afloat.

Published on March 21, 2018 at 10:25 pm