DURHAM, N.C. — The stars were out at Cameron Indoor Stadium for Big Monday between Syracuse and Duke, as Carmelo Anthony, Carlos Boozer, Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel were all in the building to take in the action.
But the game they watched was anything but competitive, as the Blue Devils shot 72% from the field in the second half, scoring 61 points and handing the Orange their worst conference loss since joining the ACC and their 11th straight loss to Duke overall in a 101-64 drubbing.
And it was not just the staggering offense numbers that stood out, it was the overall team defense played by Duke that caught the eye of their head coach as well.
“[Defense] is what our identity is. This is as good as a defense as we have had here,” said Duke head coach Jon Scheyer after the game.
The defense surrendered just 24 points to Syracuse in the first half and was led by freshman guard Dane Sarr, whose impact may not be easy to see by looking at the box score, but gave Syracuse fits all evening.
And while Sarr led the defense, his teammate Cameron Boozer anchored it and the Blue Devils as a whole. Boozer recorded a double-double before the end of the first half and finished the game with 22 points and 12 rebounds, while only missing two shots.
“I don’t think there are too many players in college that can hold him off when he gets to the spots that he wants to,” said Syracuse head coach Adrian Autry.
The player that was tasked with guarding Boozer was forward William Kyle III, and although he led Syracuse with 12 points and added two blocks, he was not afraid to admit the difficulty of the assignment.
“I don’t think I’ve played a player as talented as that as far as getting to his spots and finding his angles,” said Kyle after the game.
Whether it was Duke scoring their first five field goals off offensive rebounds, closing the first half on an 11-0 run in under three minutes, or making fourteen consecutive field goals in the second half, every bounce seemed to fall Duke’s way, and highlighted the difference between the two programs.
And if that wasn’t enough, playing in front of the 9,314 “Cameron Crazies” only made things harder.
“It’s real loud, and I feel like that affected us as far as being organized with our plays and what we were doing,” Kyle said.
The road for Syracuse ahead does not get any easier as well, as the No. 16 North Carolina Tar Heels head to the Dome on Saturday, with tipoff at 1 PM.