Orange offense struggles to get going in 60-44 loss to Blue Devils (full coverage)

Turnovers flew in rapid succession, superseding the number of shots the Syracuse Orange hit against a newly-stingy Duke Blue Devils zone. As Coach K’s squad took another step toward the top of the sport, the Orange watched Marvin Bagley return and Duke dunk all over them in a 60-44 win.

Marvin Bagley’s return propelled Duke, catching three lobs over the Syracuse defense from Grayson Allen. He took handoffs from Wendell Carter in the post for slams on the back door, outside of that the Blue Devils piled up bricks but feeding Bagley in his return piled up assists and an 11 point lead as Bagley caught one more toss before the buzzer.

Duke shot 3-of-23 outside of Bagley’s 6-of-7 performance, the only semblance of offense as the teams missed 20 straight threes to start the game, Syracuse scored 16 points in the first 20 minutes and both squads hovered around 30 percent shooting at the half.

The Orange found its success in the post, Carter sent a pair of shots flying but outside of his two blocks Syracuse converted six shots inside. Tyus Battle raced end-to-end on a missed elbow jumper by Carter, Matthew Moyer followed on a transition feed from Frank Howard while Paschal Chukwu caught three lobs over the back of Duke’s zone.

CONTINUE READING: What does Saturday’s loss mean?
BOX SCORE: Syracuse 44, Duke 60
NEXT UP: Boston College, 9 p.m. on Wednesday

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE GAME

POST GAME PRESSER

MORE COVERAGE

– Fan reactions to Syracuse’s 60-44 loss to No. 5 Duke (Daily Orange)
– Three takeaways from Syracuse’s 60-44 loss to No. 5 Duke (Daily Orange)
– Final score: Duke 60, Syracuse 44 (NunesMagician.com)
– GameThread: Syracuse Orange vs. Duke Blue Devils (NunesMagician.com)
– Syracuse basketball box score at Duke (Syracuse.com)
– Syracuse basketball suffers convincing loss at No. 5 Duke (Syracuse.com)
– You Grade the Orange: Rate Syracuse basketball performance at Duke (Syracuse.com)

GAME PREVIEW

Syracuse travels to No. 5/5 Duke on Saturday, Feb. 24 at 6:15 p.m. in Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Orange look to win their third-straight game over the Blue Devils. The game will be televised on ESPN and on the Watch ESPN app. Fans can also listen to the live broadcast on the Syracuse IMG Radio Network.

The Orange and the Blue devils have split the all-time series with five wins each. John Gillon hit a game-winning buzzer-beater to give Syracuse a 78-75 triumph at the Carrier Dome in last season’s matchup. Read More