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Duke Basketball: Short handed Blue Devils looking for revenge at ‘Cuse

By Kevin Connelly

DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - JANUARY 14: Elijah Hughes #33 of the Syracuse Orange defends RJ Barrett #5 of the Duke Blue Devils during their game at Cameron Indoor Stadium on January 14, 2019 in Durham, North Carolina. Syracuse won 95-91 in overtime. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - JANUARY 14: Elijah Hughes #33 of the Syracuse Orange defends RJ Barrett #5 of the Duke Blue Devils during their game at Cameron Indoor Stadium on January 14, 2019 in Durham, North Carolina. Syracuse won 95-91 in overtime. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /
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The Duke Basketball team is in Syracuse, New York looking for revenge against the Orange, but the Blue Devils will be without Zion Williamson.

The news that was reported yesterday by Jeff Goodman was made official this morning by Duke, as Zion Williamson will not play on Saturday night against the Syracuse Orange as he is still recovering from a Grade 1 knee sprain suffered on Wednesday night against North Carolina.

Back in January, the Orange came into Cameron Indoor Stadium and upset the Blue Devils in overtime who were without Cam Reddish (illness) and Tre Jones left in the opening minutes of the game (shoulder) and did not return.

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Williamson led the Blue Devils against Syracuse’s 2-3 zone with 35 points and 10 rebounds while R.J. Barrett finished with 23 points and 16 rebounds and Barrett will have to have another big game tonight if Duke wants to come away with a victory.

In that game, the Blue Devils had two players come off the bench and play vital roles for Duke in Marques Bolden and Alex O’Connell.

Bolden finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds, while O’Connell was the only Blue Devils who could consistently make a shot from beyond the 3-point arc and finished with 16 points on four of eight shooting from 3-point territory.

As a team, Duke only made nine of its forty three attempts from 3-point range, with only three players making those shots. O’Connell made four, Barrett made four, and Williamson drained one, with Cam Reddish back in the rotation tonight, Duke will need him to have hit best outside shooting abilities to try and break the 2-3 zone of the Orange.

On the other side, it was Syracuse’s Tyus Battle that sunk the Blue Devils with his 32 points, but before Jones was injured, Battle looked dazed and confused as Tre Jones had four steals within the first five minutes.

Syracuse’s Head Coach Jim Boeheim will coach tonight after being involved in a fatal car accident on Wednesday night.

As always when Duke visits the Carrier Dome, there will be a record crowd in attendance and in order to come away with a victory, the Blue Devils must be able to hit its 3-point shots, but it will be very important for Duke not to fall in love with the 3-point ball.

As always against Syracuse, Duke will have to create turnovers and try to get out in transition for some easy looks at the basket before Syracuse can set up in its 2-3 zone.

The Blue Devils and the Orange will tipoff at 6:00 pm ET from the Carrier Dome and the game can be seen on ESPN.

PREDICTION: Duke 77, Syracuse 69

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.  

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