Syracuse men’s basketball faces its toughest test this season against No. 4 Duke

Syracuse men’s basketball (15-11, 6-7 Atlantic Coast Conference) is riding high for the first time in a while ahead of Monday night’s game against #4 Duke (23-2, 12-1 ACC). The Orange have back-to-back wins, something that hasn’t happened since the start of January. Even with a power outage, SU took down Cal 107-100 in double overtime on Wednesday and then took the lead late to beat SMU 79-78 on Saturday.

There was a different buzz in Syracuse the past week. For Duke, a winning buzz has been felt all season. The Blue Devils’ only two losses were to ranked teams and were by a combined total of four points: a 82-81 loss to #19 Texas Tech and a 71-68 loss to #14 UNC. This game has a similar vibe as always: a David vs Goliath matchup.

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It’s no secret attendance for basketball games this season have taken a sharp decline. Against Cal on Wednesday, just four thousand fans filled the JMA Wireless Dome. Last season, around 19,000 people watched SU per game. It’s a different story this year. Syracuse would need to average 21,000 fans for the last couple of home games to avoid the 2021-2022 total, which was the lowest attendance ever. Some of those who do show up this year have called for head coach Adrian Autry to be fired, yet he believed they were the difference in the win over SMU.

“First, before I start, I'd like to really thank the crowd today,” Autry said. “I thought the crowd got into it and really got us and pulled us and gave us that energy that we needed. I thought the crowd was on a level five.”

The ‘Cuse is 12-4 at home this season, compared to having losing records on the road and at neutral sites. SU’s away record is 2-4, despite scoring almost 10 more points per game.

Energy is something that’s come in waves for the Orange this season, in particular the last couple of games. Syracuse erased a 12 point deficit against the Mustangs and also an over 30 point deficit against North Carolina, although came up short in that game. The ‘Cuse even fought back versus the Golden Bears, exchanging the lead 28 times. Autry is happy with the determination he’s seen.

“The fight that these guys have these last two games, just the fight that they've shown, I'm just so proud of these guys,” Autry said.

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At the heart of these fights is someone who’s come up clutch a couple times for the Orange: guard Nate Kingz. The redshirt senior scored a game-high 27 points against Cal, one shy of his career-best set against Notre Dame. He also sank the game-winning bucket with two seconds left against the Mustangs.

“What I love about Nate and what he embodies is that he's not about the talk,” Autry said. “He’s not about famous quotes or any of this stuff. He rolls his sleeves up every day and goes to work.”

Syracuse is 9-5 when Kingz scores double digits, with all the losses by single digits. The guard is averaging 17 points per game in the last three contests.

For the Blue Devils, they have a plethora of scorers, including freshman Cameron Boozer who is fifth nationally in scoring. He leads the team in points per game with 22.8, five more than SU’s leader Donnie Freeman. The freshman is also scoring 24 points a game at home, which could spell trouble for Syracuse.

Boozer doesn’t just score points, he grabs rebounds too. The forward is 15th in the country for getting boards with 10 a game. His performance against #20 Clemson was the 15th game this season with at least 15 points, six rebounds and four assists. No other Division I player has had more than 11 of those games this year. That could be another problem for the Orange since they sit towards the bottom in the ACC in rebounds.

Duke isn’t just a one-man show though. Players like Isaiah Evans shoot the rock just as well. Evans drained four threes against the Tigers and has now made at least three triples in 12 games this season. Duke is 12-0 this season when he reaches that threshold and 23-0 during his career.

The duo of Boozer and Evans will be tough to stop. They are the first Duke teammates to each have 350 plus points in the team's first 25 games of a season since Tre Jones and Vernon Carey Jr. during the 2019-20 season.

Both teams aim to extend their winning streaks to three games. Find out how Syracuse plays against its highest-ranked opponent this season on Monday. It’s the 9th meeting between the two sides at Cameron Indoor Stadium, which is set for 7:00, with McClurg Remodeling Countdown to Tip-off at 6:30.