Duke Basketball: Blue Devils can’t afford a letdown hosting Syracuse

After the thrilling last second win over Florida State on Saturday, the Duke Basketball team cannot afford a letdown on Monday hosting the Syracuse Orange.

Confidence is high in that Duke Basketball locker room right now after a last second victory over the Florida State Seminoles, but a new challenge awaits the Blue Devils on Monday.

While, Duke will be taking on the Syracuse Orange, the Blue Devils must be able to put the success of Saturday behind them and focus on beating a desperate Syracuse team.

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This game provides a great teaching opportunity for Mike Krzyzewski as the amount of time off the team had between the two games is the same amount of time in between games in the NCAA Tournament.

This season the Blue Devils had to play three games in three days at the Maui Invitational, but the only other time the team has had one day in between games was on December 18 and December 20 when Duke beat Princeton and Texas Tech, respectively.

Despite the dominance of R.J. Barrett and the resurgence of Cam Reddish, the biggest question going into this game against Syracuse is the health of Zion Williamson.

Zion was poked in the eye late in the first half on Saturday and did not return to the game, despite sitting on the bench for the entire second half.

Coach K said to reporters after the game that Williamson had “double vision” and that he should be ready to go on Monday.

Williamson is an important piece for Duke in this game against Syracuse because of his versatility on offense and his ability to penetrate the Orange’s 2-3 zone.

Regardless on whether Zion can play or not, this is a big game for Tre Jones as he will be the one to run this Duke offense going against the zone and since this isn’t a Blue Devil team that consistently makes the 3-point ball, 33.1% on the season, Jones will have to try and get to the free throw line and look to attack the Orange.

If Cam Reddish and R.J. Barrett are able to his their outside shots like they did against Florida State, the Blue Devils should be in good shape, but Duke must defend the explosive Tyus Battle on the other end of the floor.

The Blue Devils are the far superior team in this matchup and that should show early as the Syracuse Orange come into Cameron Indoor Stadium at 7:00 pm ET on Monday night. The game can be seen on ESPN.

PREDICTION: Duke 87, Syracuse 65

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