With the win, Syracuse improves to 17-12 overall and 9-7 in ACC play. The two spoke on the game, the last-second shot from John Gillon (which Boeheim called lucky) and about Boeheim’s future at Syracuse. Just being able to play in this game, play against Duke, it was like a dream come true for me. It should. A graduate transfer, the guard spent two seasons applying his trade at Colorado State, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in economics. But Newton-who scored 15 points against the Blue Devils past year in Coral Gables-will be back on the floor for Saturday’s contest hungry to lead the team again.
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The story of the night was rebounds.
Working against the Orange was a severe 16 to 4 offensive rebounding disparity in favor of the Blue Devils.
Syracuse trailed 33-25 at half, and looked like a completely different offense in the second half, outscoring Duke 53-42.
Cartwright’s shot from the right wing was the Friars’ first field goal in more than five minutes and gave them their first lead since the opening four minutes of the second half. Kennard leads the team with am average of 20 points per game, while Jefferson leads the team in rebounding with 8.8 rebounds and Allen is the team’s leading assist man with 4 helpers per game this season. The crowd spent most of the night booing him whenever he touched the ball. Syracuse will need more of the same from that duo, as well as a big game from Tyler Lydon (13.6 points, 8.1 rebounds), who has played every minute of the team’s last nine games. Tyus Battle scored off a nice move in transition to start the burst and Taurean Thompson finished off the glass for a second score. Luke Kennard missed a three ball, that led to Gillon’s heroics at the buzzer.
The narrative for the 2016-17 Syracuse team has been that of overcoming adversity. Don’t forget, after the NC State loss head coach Mike Krzyzewski banned his players from their locker room on non-game days. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi listed them as one of the last four byes ahead of the contest. “It’s more of a challenge when we’re playing guys that are hurt, because there’s a part of them that would like to do only so much to win”.
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With consecutive losses to Louisville and Georgia Tech, the tournament hopes appeared to be fading.
