The Blue Devils played a barn-burner Saturday when they fell to Notre Dame 95-91 in an offensive explosion for both teams.
But Monday's game against Syracuse has been a polar opposite.
After a half of play, No. 20 Duke leads the Orange 29-26 despite shooting just 30.0 percent from the floor. The Blue Devils hoisted 21 attempts from downtown in the opening 20 minutes and made just five, but still hold a three-point edge after a late surge by sophomore Grayson Allen.
Despite entering the contest ranked second in scoring offense at 86.9 points per game, the Blue Devils got off to a slow start Monday and were scoreless for the first 5:19 of the half. Duke has built big leads early in games this season by starting hot from beyond the arc, but that was not the case in this one as the team missed its first eight shots and its first six from downtown.
Freshman Brandon Ingram and graduate student Marshall Plumlee willed the Blue Devils back into the game—scoring 15 of the team's first 18 points—in different ways. Ingram displayed his perimeter stroke early, hitting a pair of 3-pointers and finishing the first-half with eight points on 3-of-6 shooting, along with three crucial offensive rebounds.
On the interior, Plumlee has provided a much-needed boost for the team by attacking Jim Boeheim's 2-3 zone. The center scored nine points and hit all five of his free throws in the half. On defense, the big man has collected six rebounds and done a good job boxing out a Syracuse team that has five players taller than 6-foot-8 on its roster.
The Orange have not got nearly as much production as normal from leading scorer Michael Gbinije—the sixth-leading scorer in the conference. The former Blue Devil had just two points in the first half and picked up a crucial third foul late that sent him to the bench. In his place, Syracuse got eight points apiece from guard Trevor Cooney and forward Tyler Roberson.
A key for Duke in the second-half will be to continue getting production from its starting backcourt. After torching the nets against Notre Dame, sophomore Grayson Allen and freshman Luke Kennard missed their first nine shots combined against the Orange. But Allen started to heat up near the end of the first 20 minutes, scoring the last nine points of the half for Duke via a pair of triples and an old-fashioned 3-point play. Allen hit a running 3-pointer at the buzzer, but the officials waved it off after looking at the replay monitor.
Here are some observations from the first half:
- The Blue Devils have looked to attack the Orange's 2-3 zone by getting the ball to Jones and Ingram at the elbow, but have not always made the entry pass. Plumlee spent much of the first half sitting near the baseline on offense and took advantage of penetration by the team's guards.
- Coming off a 30-point outing against the Fighting Irish, Kennard started for the second consecutive game for the Blue Devils. Sean Obi was the first big man off the bench for the second consecutive contest as well.
- It was not an offensive barrage that brought the crowd at Cameron to their loudest. Instead, an Orange turnover on a long defensive possession with 11:35 remaining in the game sent the Crazies into a frenzy.
- Roberson made a highlight-reel play for Syracuse when he finished off a drive by Gbinije with an authoritative left-handed alley-oop.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.