The Syracuse Orange have made it through Notre Dame and Texas in their conference schedule, but things get harder on Monday when the Orange travel to Cameron Indoor Stadium to take on the AP and KenPom topping Duke Blue Devils.
Syracuse will be tested in this game as Duke boasts a quartet of truly elite freshmen talent all capable of going in the first round of the 2019 NBA Draft. That’s on heck of a talented roster to face for a team in the Orange that played a rather light non-conference schedule.
Duke has lost this year with Gonzaga getting the best of them, but have otherwise looked like the far superior team on the court in nearly every other game. Will Monday be any different or will the Blue Devils continue the dominance, rolling over the Orange.
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Syracuse Orange vs. Duke Blue Devils
Date and Time: Monday, January 14, 2019, 7 p.m. ET
Location: Cameron Indoor Stadium, Durham, North Carolina
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Orange vs. Blue Devils TV Coverage: ESPN
Syracuse has had a nice start to the conference portion of the schedule with wins over an admittedly depleted Notre Dame team and then over Clemson to open the ACC schedule.
Against the Irish, the Orange shot well on the outside though was mediocre-at-best overall from the floor. Still, they walked away with a 72-62 win with Elijah Hughes, Oshae Brissett and Tyus Battle doing most of the scoring.
Those three are the only three with more than 6.5 PPG on the season, all three, however, sit at 13.9 or above.
Hughes and Brissett own the paint. The former is the higher scorer, but the latter is the team leader in boards with 8.3 RPG. Add in Marek Dolezaj or Paschal Chukwu at center and you have the front court that’ll be tasked with slowing the elite Duke front court and trying their best to produce points at the same furious rate.
On the outside, it’s Battle and Frank Howard. The latter is more of a ball control guy while the former leads the team with 17.5 PPG, but even he is only shooting 29.1-percent outside.
Overall, this team is not a great offensive club. They can play well defensively, but finding consistent shooting has been a challenge for a team with just 42.8-percent shooting from the floor and barely 30-percent outside.
Moving on to Duke, there’s not much that you find wrong with this team. There’s a reason they’re tops in the AP. While the Coaches Poll has Virginia slightly ahead, the Blue Devils are still a truly elite team.
This team can score in bunches. Every game, Zion Williamson does something that further locks him in at the top of the NBA Draft board whether it’s a ridiculous dunk or a monster game on the boards. He can even sink the occasional shot on the outside.
Williamson is shooting 67.9-percent from the floor for 20.9 PPG and has the team lead with 9.5 RPG and is second in blocks with 1.9 per contest.
The man seems to be getting better and better. He’s now posted four straight double-doubles and put up 30 against Wake Forest following a 25 point turnout against Clemson. Even against a No.12 Texas Tech when he only sank four shots from the floor, he managed to get himself to the line 10 times and ended with 17 points and 13 rebounds.
Williamson alone makes an elite frontcourt, but there are three others getting at least 25 minutes a game and thriving.
R.J. Barrett tops Williamson in points with 22.8 PPG. He’s not as strong of a shooter, but he’s got 4.1 APG and 6.5 RPG. Meanwhile, Cam Reddish and Jack White are more than proving their worth as well.
On the outside, Tre Jones is often the lone guard on the floor, but he’s been the unsung hero taking care of the ball. He can shoot, too, and along with White provides a threat on the perimeter.
It’s ridiculous how much depth Coach K has to work with here. Marques Bolden, Javin DeLaurir and Alex O’Connell are coming off the bench and would start for most teams.
In total, this team is scoring 91 PPG and shooting nearly 50-percent as a team. They could do better outside and from the free-throw line, but even those numbers don’t look bad compared to Syracuse. The team is also worlds better on the glass than Syracuse with eight more RPG as a team.
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Statistically, Syracuse has not had a good year offensively. They’re struggling to find consistency shooting, but they still rank reasonably high in the KenPom rankings. The adjusted offense is still above average for college hoops and the defense stands out as the strength of the team.
Of course, for Duke, the Blue Devils are as balanced a team as there is in the sport. They’re top three both offensively and defensively and are really in a class by themselves based on their +33.45 adjusted efficiency margin. Only Virginia even comes close.
The defense is strong, but Duke isn’t going to be shutdown. The Orange will need to shoot better than they have most of this year. If they can find the bucket from the outside like they did against Notre Dame a few games ago, they could have a better showing than most expect. They shot 12-for-29 in that game though even then, they managed just 72 points and shot a much less impressive 41.2-percent from the floor.
No matter what it’ll be an uphill climb for Syracuse in this game, but it should still provide a number of good live betting opportunities at BookMaker.eu.
Key Player
With Williamson, Barrett, Reddish, Jones, White, Bolden and more, the Blue Devils are a deep team with a ton of top talent. They may the four best players on the court in this game, but if one or two struggles, they have the personnel to overcome that. The key player in this game is from Syracuse.
The Orange are better defensively than offensively, but they’ll need to play well on both fronts to keep this game close and at least have a chance to cover the spread. A key piece to that is Marek Dolezaj who has unseated Paschal Chukwu as the starting center.
At 6’10”, Dolezaj stands a few inches shorter than Chukwu, but has looked good on the floor. He’s gotten three blocks in the last two games and put up 10 points in the win against Clemson. The Orange will need someone to hold his own inside the paint against the fearsome Duke frontcourt and it looks like Dolezaj will be the big man inside for the bulk of the game.
Orange vs. Blue Devils Live Betting
Syracuse has a strong defense and may be able minimize the damage for Williamson, Barrett and Reddish a bit, but the trio will still get their points even against Dolezaj, Brissett and Hughes inside.
Look for the Blue Devils to destroy Syracuse on the glass and play excellent defense inside, forcing Syracuse to take low-percentage shots on the outside where they’ve struggled to produce this season.
Duke, on the other hand, have a stacked frontcourt, can push towards the basket on anyone—including Syracuse—and is a strong defense, able to create turnovers as well as anyone in college hoops.
On top of that, look for a good game on the outside for Jones who is sometimes overlooked on this team, but has excellent ball control with 5.8 assists and just one turnover a game.
Check out all of the live betting at BookMaker.eu for Monday’s college basketball action.
NCAA Basketball Score Prediction: Duke 88, Syracuse 69
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