Williams' career night propels No. 7 Duke to 97-72 win at Syracuse
Posted February 26, 2022 7:03 p.m. EST
Updated February 27, 2022 10:10 a.m. EST
 7Duke Blue Devils |
97 |
 Syracuse Orange |
72 |
| Final | |
No. 7 Duke (25-4, 15-3 ACC) crushed Syracuse for its sixth straight road win, 97-72.
Syracuse (15-14, 9-9 ACC) head coach Jim Boeheim and the school honored Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski and his impending retirement before the game began.
Krzyzewski responded to the kind gesture from his good friend by going up 14-0 in the first 4:18 of the game.
A perfect half of basketball is very difficult, but Duke came almost as close as you will see. Duke led by 30 with as 5:05 to go in the half.
Syracuse closed the half on a 16-3 run. The closest Syracuse would get the rest of the way is 15 points when Buddy Boeheim hit a jumper 12 seconds into the second half. Duke built its lead from there.
The Blue Devils shot 48.6% in the second half and 53.8% for the game after a blistering 60% first half. Duke had assists on 26 of its 35 made field goals. It made 10 of 17 from 3 in the first half but cooled to 5 of 15 in the second.
Syracuse shot a little over 49% for the game but was just 5 of 19 from the 3-point line.
Duke's Paolo Banchero had been in a slump, at least for him, scoring 20 points in just one of the last 11 games after doing it in eight of Duke's first 17 games.
But he must like seeing Syracuse Orange as Banchero had more points in the first half as he did in any of his last seven games with 18. He finished with 21 on 7 of 16 shooting, and he led Duke with eight assists.
It was his teammate Mark Williams who won the night, though, finishing with a career-high 28 points on 11 of 14 shooting, adding 12 rebounds and three blocks.
A.J. Griffin also made it to 20 points on 7 of 11 shooting, while Jeremy Roach continued his stretch of good play with 10 points.
Boeheim led Syracuse with 23 points on 10 of 21 shooting, while Joe Girard added 18. Benny Williams added 14 points while Bourama Sibide had 11.
Next up for Duke will be the Blue Devils' final road game at Pittsburgh, coached by former longtime Duke assistant and Coach K point guard Jeff Capel.
