Syracuse demolished by Duke 83-54, largest defeat to the Blue Devils ever

Nearly ten minutes into the game Syracuse trailed No 2 Duke 11-7. Things were going pretty well. SU guard Starling had all 7 of the Orange’s points and the Cuse defense was halting the Duke offense. Even freshman phenom Cooper Flag only had 3 points close to the halfway mark of the first half. But the Orange couldn’t stay on their heels forever and soon the Blue Devils got cooking. It was just over a minute later that Duke took a commanding 20-9 lead. From that point on it was all Blue Devils. By halftime it was a 17 point game and shortly into the second half the Duke lead grew and grew. In the end Syracuse (10-13, 4-8 in Atlantic Coast Conference) fell to Duke (20-2, 12-0 ACC) at the JMA Wireless Dome, 83-54, the largest defeat ever in these two storied programs history.

Despite the demolition, SU center Eddie Lampkin reached a milestone 1,000th career point. The grad student entered the contest with 999 and his only 2 points of the night was all he needed.

cuse.com

That was pretty much the only somewhat bright spot of the night. Lampkin only having two is a big problem on its own but other players couldn’t score too. However, that didn’t even matter because the Syracuse defense could not stop Duke. The Blue Devils had five players in double digits. Not even Dukes star Cooper Flag had to do much. The Maine native had 11 points, which was his lowest in a game since December 10th. However, his night still included one highlight reel play.

Other Blue Devil players like Tyrese Proctor, Kon Knueppel, and Sion James made sure to pick up any slack. They all stepped up with double digit points and made the Orange pay. That did some damage but former SU player Maliq Brown rubbed in the pain.

As bad as the defense was the same case could be made for the Cuse offense. JJ Starling only had 12 points and the other two Orange players in double digits were Jyare Davis and Naheem McLeod… McLeod had one of his best games in Orange with 10 points, but that came with a big price since the rest of the team could not get anything to go. Starters Eddie Lampkin, Lucas Taylor, and Elijah Moore all had under 3 points. It was pitiful. After the game when talking about shot selection SU head coach Adrian Autry said,

“I thought we settled for some. And when we did get in there, we didn't finish... some of that had to do with their defense."

Other guys who struggled were Kyle Cuffe who had 0 points and Jaquan Carlos who notched just 2.

At this point it’s hard to tell where to go. The Orange have been absolutely blown out by Quad 1 teams like Louisville, Clemson, Tennessee, Maryland, and now Duke. SU head coach Adrian Autry said after the game,

"We have to keep building this thing. ... When we came into this league college was different. ... We have to kind of reshape this and get things going."

A key piece the team is still missing is forward Donnie Freeman who Autry said, "Right now, we're just worried about whether he's going to play (this season)."

Things are looking bleak right now for Syracuse, but that doesn’t mean the action stops. ACC play rolls on Saturday against Boston College. The Orange took down the Eagles 79-71 at BC earlier this season and now it’s time to run it back at the Dome. Game time is at 3:15. Be sure to tune in on McClurg Remodeling countdown to tipoff at 2:45.