Syracuse (11-5, 2-1 Atlantic Coast) faces a short turnaround after an upset loss to Georgia Tech on Saturday, traveling on Monday to face No. 1 Duke (14-1, 3-0). The Blue Devils just beat No. 13 Florida State on a Cam Reddish buzzer-beater and feature three potential top-5 NBA Draft picks.
Here’s what our beat writers think will happen Monday in Durham, North Carolina.

Billy Heyen (13-3)
Coach K’s crazies
Duke 83, Syracuse 59

With Zion Williamson expected to play Monday after being poked in the eye on Saturday, Duke features the best trio of players Syracuse has faced this season: Williamson, R.J. Barrett and Cam Reddish. Duke adds to that one of the best defenses in the country, which should force plenty of SU misses and then convert them into lots of points on the fastbreak. Duke just has too much talent for the Orange to hang for 40 minutes.

Charlie DiSturco (12-4)
Child’s play
Duke 78, Syracuse 53

If Syracuse cannot handle Georgia Tech’s big men, there’s no shot they’ll slow down Zion Williamson and Javin DeLaurier inside the paint on Monday night. Add R.J. Barrett’s scoring ability and Cam Reddish’s shot, and this is a blowout in the making. Duke is the best team in the country, with a top 5 offense and defense. Syracuse is, well, not even close to that.

Matthew Gutierrez (11-5)
Best in the Land
Duke 70, Syracuse 52

The better team will win handily Monday night. What Syracuse could gain from a blowout loss at Cameron Indoor is a performance against a really good team on the road. The result won’t be pretty, but at least the Orange can check this game off their list and maybe, just maybe, the next few games will seem a bit less daunting.

Published on January 13, 2019 at 8:52 pm