Guard Tyus Battle poured in 32 points for Syracuse who was coming off a blowout loss to Georgia Tech, got a huge NCAA tournament resume victory, defeating top-ranked Duke, 95-91, in overtime during a Big Monday game at the Cameron Indoor Stadium. It was the Blue Devils’ first loss at home as a top-ranked team since 2006. Duke had been 104-0 against everyone but neighborhood rival North Carolina when they were ranked No. 1.
The Orange (12-5, 3-1 in the ACC) finally took control of the game, in front of national audience on ESPN when 7-2 center Paschal Chukwu, who finished with 18 rebounds, scored on a putback dunk to put them ahead 95-91 with 45 seconds left.
The young Blue Devils (14-2, 3-1 in the ACC) played most of the game without two of their four star freshmen. Forward Cam Reddish, who made the game winning three at the buzzer to beat Florida State Saturday, missed the game because of illness and point guard Tre Jones, left the game in the first half with a shoulder sprain after hitting the court hard.
“It’s a shoulder sprain. It’s not broken,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “He was in a lot of pain when he was down. He’s just the toughest kid. Right away, he said, “I don’t know if my collarbone is broken.’ and it was hurting that badly. But it’s a sprain.”
Duke tried to adjust to their absence by launching three pointers. But they shot just 9 for 43 from beyond the arc and star freshman forward RJ struggled badly, making just 4 for 17 and at one critical point in the second half, was 0 for 10 from the field as an eight point Duke lead evaporated.
Freshman man child Zion Williamson, who is a logical choice for the first pick in the 2019 NBA draft, kept the Blue Devils in the game with a career high 35 points and 10 rebounds. Barrett added 23 points, 16 rebounds and 9 assists. Forward Elijah Hughes added 20 points for Syracuse, including a three quarter court three at the halftime buzzer. Guard Frank Howard had 16. the Orange had a chance to win the game in regulation when Battle had a good look at a three but missed.
“We have confidence in ourselves,” Battle said. “It doesn’t matter how many shots we miss, we’re going to keep shooting them. And we worked too hard to just not take the shots when we’re open.”
