The Duke Basketball team is looking for revenge against the Syracuse Orange in the Carrier Dome after the Orange upset Duke in Cameron back in January.
Coming into this rematch against the Syracuse Orange, one of the biggest questions for the Blue Devils would be who Mike Krzyzewski would add to the starting five in replace of Zion Williamson, who is recovering from a knee sprain suffered on Wednesday night.
Coach K went with Alex O’Connell along side of Tre Jones, Cam Reddish, R.J. Barrett, and Javin DeLaurier started tonight in place of Marques Bolden.
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Duke miss its first four 3-point attempts, but after Tre Jones made the first of the evening, the Blue Devils would go on to miss three more.
However, the most shocking development in the first half was Joey Baker and Antonio Vrankovic entering the game within the first ten minutes.
Vrankovic is a senior and rarely used unless it’s a blowout and the assumption was that Joey Baker was going to redshirt this season as he has yet to play in a game this season.
That assumption is over and Baker should be in the rotation for the rest of the season since by entering this game, he can no longer redshirt.
The Blue Devils were led by R.J. Barrett with 17 points, two rebounds, and two assists, on eight of eleven shooting.
As a team, the Blue Devils finished the first half three of fifteen from the 3-point range, and trail 34-29.
In the second half, Duke is going to have to start to make a couple of 3-pointers, but also not take as many.
The Blue Devils have to get the ball to the free throw line to R.J. Barrett and let the star freshman make decisions from there whether to shoot or pass to an open teammate for a 3-point attempt.
Duke must also limit Syracuse to just one shot on offense as the Blue Devils allowed ten offensive rebounds in the first half.
Stay tuned to Ball Durham on Twitter, @Ball_Durham, and here at our website, balldurham.com, for complete coverage of the Duke Blue Devils vs. the Syracuse Orange.