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After the Orange made a roaring 20-point comeback in the second half against Notre Dame on Saturday, Syracuse put itself in a position to play its way into the NCAA Tournament field if it could put together 40 good minutes against Duke on Monday night. 

Duke raced out to a 36-14 lead in the opening 14 minutes of the game with efficient 3-point shooting and dominant rebounding. Syracuse needed to find another 20-point rally, but unlike Saturday, there’d be no comeback. No 40-12 run to end the game. No Buddy Boeheim career-high performance. And most importantly, no Quadrant 1 win. Duke (11-8, 9-6 Atlantic Coast) made 10 first-half 3s and rolled to a 85-71 win against Syracuse (13-7, 7-6) in Cameron Indoor Stadium on Monday night.

Here are three takeaways from Syracuse’s blowout loss at Duke:

Duke’s 3-point barrage 

Duke’s improved 3-point shooting in its last three games entering Monday night was a key driver of the Blue Devils’ recent win streak. Matthew Hurt had made 14-of-19 of his 3s in the last three contests, and Syracuse needed to improve at guarding the 3 if it wanted to pull the small upset at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

But at one point in the first half, Duke had outscored Syracuse 24-0 from beyond the 3-point arc. 

The Orange didn’t make their first 3 until there was 5:06 left in the first half, when they trailed by 19. Similar to the opening frame against Notre Dame on Saturday, SU’s defensive rotations were too slow. Duke shot over the 2-3 zone, passed around it and generated a plethora of open looks. The Blue Devils even made 3s when contested. 

Duke sharpshooter Jeremy Roach made all four of his first-half 3-point attempts. Hurt knocked down 2-of-4, and DJ Steward connected on 3-of-6 attempts. Duke’s offensive barrage totaled 52 points in the opening frame, which was more than enough to hold off any SU comeback in the second half. 

Kadary Richmond scores 15 points, starts second half

Even when Kadary Richmond has shined off the bench in the first halves for Syracuse this season, head coach Jim Boeheim has never rewarded him with a second-half start in a game that he didn’t begin in the lineup. Yet on Monday, when SU came out for the second half, the freshman point guard had replaced Joe Girard III. 

Richmond was the Orange’s most effective offensive player in the opening frame, as he totaled 11 points on 6-of-8 shooting. Richmond displayed his prowess when he beat his man off the dribble-drive and connected on two separate layups in the opening half. 

Richmond needs to improve on his jump shot by first making more shots in practice, Boeheim said. In the game on Monday, Duke left him open for a 3, and Richmond took a dribble to set his feet and connected on the 3. It was SU’s first 3 of the night and potentially the first step in his maturation as a scorer for the Orange. 

Richmond finished the game with 29 minutes compared to 18 for Girard.

Outside of Richmond, Syracuse’s bench fails to provide spark

Robert Braswell shined off the bench in the comeback win on Saturday, but the Orange’s bench failed to produce when they did appear. Braswell played 17 minutes on Monday but finished 1-of-6 from the field and 0-of-4 from 3. He appeared late on multiple defensive rotations and saw multiple Duke players make 3s over him in the 2-3 zone.

Boeheim turned to John Bol Ajak for three minutes on the interior in the first half, but Ajak was late in running to the corner to contest a Duke 3, which was made. Ajak missed his only field goal attempt and didn’t reappear in the second half until the final four minutes, when the game was decided.

Woody Newton hasn’t played much since the Orange’s COVID-19 pause in late December, and he didn’t appear until the final four minutes of the game, with SU trailing by 20. He missed his only 3-point attempt on the Orange’s final possession. Syracuse’s bench hasn’t seen much playing time outside of Richmond all season — and it disappointed again Monday night.

Published on February 22, 2021 at 9:05 pm

Contact Anthony: [email protected] | @AnthonyDabbundo