Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim held his hand out toward his players. There would be no more fouls as Duke would dribble out the clock. Tyus Battle put his hands on his hips, untucked his jersey and looked toward the floor. Just more than a month ago, the Orange celebrated on Duke’s home floor. The last time the Blue Devils played in Syracuse, students filled the court in postgame jubilation. On Saturday there’d be no court storm, no excitement, no equivalent celebration.

“To come out and lose a tough game and just have shots not fall in the second half is always tough as a basketball player,” Battle said.

In a game with 35,642 fans in the Carrier Dome, a new on-campus basketball attendance record, No. 1 Duke (24-3, 12-2 Atlantic Coast) was too much for Syracuse (18-9, 9-5), winning 75-65. After beating the Blue Devils in Durham behind 95 points in an overtime finish, the Orange didn’t have enough offense to overcome the nation’s best a second time.

“You have to score points to beat Duke,” Boeheim said. “Down there, we had our best offensive game of the year… That was the difference in the two games.”

The contest took place less than 72 hours after Boeheim fatally struck a pedestrian, 51-year-old Jorge Jimenez, on Interstate 690 late Wednesday night. Boeheim met with his team on Thursday afternoon briefly, but didn’t participate in the practice that day. He returned to practice Friday ahead of coaching against Duke and his good friend, Blue Devils head coach Mike Krzyzewski. When the game began, Boeheim led with his usual fervor.

At Duke, the second half was Frank Howard’s — he scored 14 points then. The first half on Saturday was his, too, as he opened the scoring with a 3, then hit another shortly after. Both times, he dragged three fingers from his shooting hand along the ground as he jogged back on defense.

From there, it was a balanced attack for Syracuse and all RJ Barrett for Duke. The expected top-5 pick, Barrett scored inside and out, and when he couldn’t get a look he wanted, he fed his teammates. It led to 17 points and a couple of first-half dimes. The problem for the Orange came in what followed: Barrett and his teammates heated up, and Syracuse couldn’t buy a bucket.

“Our offense really didn’t get going, we didn’t shoot well from the 3,” SU guard Elijah Hughes said. “That kind of hurt us.”

Soon after the halftime break, Alex O’Connell knocked down one 3 on a cross-court pass from Barrett, then made another through a Howard foul for a 4-point play and a 45-43 Duke lead. O’Connell then hit a third trifecta a few minutes later.

O’Connell had scored 16 when SU beat the Blue Devils earlier this season, he’d taken an official visit to Syracuse in high school and Boeheim knew he would cause problems.

“O’Connell was the guy I was most worried about,” Boeheim said. “… We really played a pretty good defensive game except for O’Connell… We had two or three breakdowns defensively on him.”

Battle, who shot just 2-of-8 in the first half, tried to keep Syracuse in the game with a baseline reverse layup that tied it at 50 early in the second half. But then Cam Reddish hit a 3 seconds later to take the lead back.

From there, Duke was a bit too much. O’Connell drained another 3, his fifth. Barrett bullied his way inside for a lefty finish. The Orange shooters cooled down.

There wasn’t as much penetration as SU got in Durham. Tre Jones played only the first five minutes before being injured in the first meeting. But the finalist for National Defensive Player of the Year matched up on Battle for much of the second half and shut him down.

“I think he missed some shots that he made down there,” Boeheim said of Battle. “… We’ve struggled at times offensively this year, and tonight was one of those struggles.”

Battle, after 32 points in Durham, finished 4-of-17 with 16 points. Oshae Brissett made just 3-of-13. The Orange converted 34.3 percent of their shots. Against the No. 1 team in the country, cooling down wasn’t an option, but that’s what happened.

“We got to the basket whenever,” Brissett said of the first meeting. “Today I feel like they did a better job on the inside.”

Syracuse had one more chance with about five minutes left as a rebound led Howard down the floor. But, just as his end at Duke mirrored his beginning Saturday, his opening in Durham mirrored this finish.

Howard was stripped by O’Connell, who then sprinted down the floor for a two-handed slam. Moments later, Barrett caught a lob and finished an alley-oop to put Duke up nine. The Orange weren’t getting back from that deficit on a night the shots wouldn’t fall.

“We’ve got to make more shots to win,” Boeheim said.

The absence of Zion Williamson didn’t matter. Duke still brought more McDonald’s All-Americans and future lottery picks to the floor than Syracuse. Barrett wasn’t going to shoot 8-of-30 again, like he’d done in the first meeting. Instead, he finished 14-of-20 with 30 points.

Lightning does strike twice. But on Saturday, it wasn’t meant to be. The better team won.

Published on February 23, 2019 at 8:22 pm

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