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Syracuse Loses Hard-Fought Battle Against Duke in ACC Quarterfinals

Jim Boeheim and Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski shake hands pregame.
Cuse.com
Jim Boeheim and Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski shake hands pregame.

Syracuse men’s basketball put up an impressive fight, but couldn’t overcome top seeded Duke in the ACC Tournament quarterfinal. WAER’s Dan Mallea looks into how things started to slip away from the Orange in the second half.

Syracuse’s 88-79 loss to Duke on Thursday will be remembered for a lot of reasons. The suspension of Buddy Boeheim, Joe Girard’s explosive first half, Jimmy Boeheim’s heroic performance in his brother’s absence, the last matchup between Boeheim and Coach K, but ultimately it’ll be remembered as a game that the Orange could have won, but didn’t.

Both teams shot the lights out to begin this game. Duke took an early lead thanks to starting four of six from beyond the three point arc, but after a bit of a slow start, Syracuse responded. The Orange ended up shooting better than 45% from the field in the first half to take a 40-36 advantage heading into the break, led by Joe Girard’s 18 points and three three-pointers. Girard even beat the halftime buzzer by nailing a contested corner three. However, JG3 slowed down the second half, but his production was matched by Jimmy Boeheim.

Jimmy played absolutely his greatest game in an Orange uniform. The graduate student finished with a season-high 28 points and six made threes, to go along with a team-high seven rebounds. Head coach Jim Boeheim glowed about Jimmy’s performance.

“Jimmy wanted to do anything he could to win this game…I could not be more proud of how Jimmy played. He was just tremendous tonight.”

Jimmy even gave Syracuse its last lead down the stretch, when the forward tipped in a missed shot to put the Orange ahead 79-78 with about three and a half minutes left. SU wouldn’t score for the remainder of the contest, while Duke went on a 10-0 run to come out on top.

Jimmy Boeheim (0) lines up one of his six three-pointers made against Duke.
Cuse.com
Jimmy Boeheim (0) lines up one of his six three-pointers made against Duke.

It’s fun to look at how well Jimmy played despite the Orange loss, but it’s hard not to wonder if the outcome had been different if the ACC’s leading scorer in Buddy Boeheim had laced up for SU. Buddy was suspended after Wednesday’s win over FSU because of a punch he threw at the Seminoles’ Wyatt Wilkes. Jim Boeheim still believes the entire situation was mishandled by the referees and the ACC.

“If they did it right, it’s a flagrant 2 and he’s out yesterday…He should’ve been out of the game, and then we play today. I’m not sure we play any better…that’s not the point. It should have been handled yesterday and the league should not punish [Buddy].”

Another player that stepped up in Buddy’s absence was Symir Torrence, who got the starting nod with the shooting guard position open. Torrence played all 40 minutes against Duke, and took advantage by dishing out a career-high 11 assists. Torrence took over main ball handling duties, which allowed Joe Girard to focus on scoring, and the Glens Falls native put up his third best scoring output of the year with 23 points.

Symir Torrence (0) makes a move against two Duke defenders in SU’s loss.
Cuse.com
Symir Torrence (0) makes a move against two Duke defenders in SU’s loss.

Other contributors for the Orange were Cole Swider, who finished with 15 points, and Frank Anselem who recorded six points and four rebounds as Cuse's starting center. For Duke, there were three players that really stood out. ACC freshman of the year Paolo Banchero lived up to his title, stuffing the stat sheet with ten points, ten boards, and seven dimes. Seven-footer Mark Williams posted an impressive 15 point, 16 rebound double-double. And forward Wendell Moore Jr. exploded for 26 points and eight assists.

It’s unclear at this point whether or not this will be Syracuse’s last game of the season, but if it is, it’ll be SU’s first losing season (16-17) since 1969. Jimmy Boeheim took a moment to reflect on what a year of basketball it’s been postgame.

“It’s meant everything for me…playing for the team that was my childhood growing up…Once this all settles I’ll remember that.”

WAER’s next broadcast will come this Sunday when Syracuse men’s lacrosse travels to play Johns Hopkins. Coverage will begin at 3:30 with GZA Countdown to Faceoff, before a four o’clock start in Baltimore.