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Duke Basketball: Blue Devils set for first postseason game against ‘Cuse

By Kevin Connelly

DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - FEBRUARY 05: (L-R) Cam Reddish #2, Javin DeLaurier #12, RJ Barrett #5 and Zion Williamson #1 of the Duke Blue Devils huddle during their game against the Boston College Eagles at Cameron Indoor Stadium on February 05, 2019 in Durham, North Carolina. Duke won 80-55. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - FEBRUARY 05: (L-R) Cam Reddish #2, Javin DeLaurier #12, RJ Barrett #5 and Zion Williamson #1 of the Duke Blue Devils huddle during their game against the Boston College Eagles at Cameron Indoor Stadium on February 05, 2019 in Durham, North Carolina. Duke won 80-55. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /
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The Duke Basketball team will start its postseason run tonight as the Blue Devils face the Syracuse Orange in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament.

The postseason is finally here and the Duke Blue Devils are still not healthy going into it.

While Zion Williamson is set to make his return to the lineup tonight against the Syracuse Orange, Marques Bolden will miss the entire ACC Tournament due to an MCL Sprain suffered last Saturday against North Carolina.

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Williamson had been out with a knee sprain of his own since February 20.

However, Syracuse is not healthy coming into this game either. Star guard Tyus Battle did not play in the Orange’s win over Pittsburgh and he is very doubtful for Thursday’s matchup against Duke.

Battle has been a thorn in Duke’s side throughout his career at Syracuse, but with him out of the lineup the must try and contain the other role players of the Orange, especially Elijah Hughes, Oshae Brissett, and now Buddy Boeheim, who is coming off of a career high outing.

Without Cam Reddish and Tre Jones going down in the opening minutes, Duke fell to Syracuse at home in mid-January, but without Zion Williamson, the Blue Devils would respond in the Carrier Dome in late February coming away with a major victory.

In that second matchup, R.J. Barrett lived in the middle of Syracuse’s 2-3 zone, finishing with 30 points.

Barrett has led this Duke team in every way imaginable with Zion on the bench, despite the Blue Devils going 3-3 in the stretch with Williamson sidelined.

On Thursday night, Duke will desperately miss Marques Bolden on the backboards. In just ten minutes in the Blue Devils’ win over Syracuse, Bolden only scored four points, but was able to grab eight rebounds.

In the first matchup, Bolden had 12 points and 11 rebounds in 34 minutes against the Orange.

When Bolden went down against the Tar Heels, Javin DeLaurier replaced him and played very well in Duke’s loss, finishing with eight points, ten rebounds, and four blocks.

DeLaurier started in both regular season games against Syracuse, but in the first matchup he was just limited to 11 minutes, totaling four fouls with just three points, two rebounds, and two blocks.

Once again picking up four fouls in the second matchup, DeLaurier played 27 minutes and had a better overall game with five points, seven rebounds, three blocks, and an assist.

Without Tyus Battle, Duke has a very clear advantage, especially in that point guard matchup with the hounding defense of Tre Jones.

As Zion is set for his return, his presence will bring energy, life, and passion to this Duke team and the Blue Devils will roll over Syracuse into the semifinals of the ACC Tournament.

The Blue Devils and Orange will get under way at about 9:30pm ET on ESPN from the Spectrum Center.

PREDICTION: Duke 82, Syracuse 68

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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