Duke basketball has first ACC Tournament opponent confirmed

It will be a familiar foe for the Duke basketball team at the ACC Tournament. 

It did not take long for the Duke basketball team to have a good idea as to who it would face on Thursday afternoon at the ACC Tournament.

The Barclays Center will see the third matchup of the season between the Blue Devils and Syracuse after the Orange absolutely embarrassed Florida State, 96-57.

The score did not indicate how dominant the Orange were on Wednesday afternoon and how embarrassing the effort from the Seminoles was.

Cole Swider, who set a career-high two weeks ago against North Carolina with 36 points, continued his hot streak and led Syracuse with 28 points and 13 rebounds on 9-of-15 shooting from the floor and 4-of-6 from 3-point range.

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The Orange shot 52.1-percent from the field and hit an impressive 39.3-percent clip from beyond the arc while dominating the Seminoles on the backboards, 52-34.

Florida State shot 2-of-25 from 3-point range and 32.4-percent overall.

Duke swept the regular-season meetings between the two teams by a combined margin of 45 points.

The most recent Blue Devil victory over Syracuse came on February 26 at the Carrier Dome, 97-72. Duke took down the Orange in Durham on January 22, 79-57.

Duke basketball could see Syracuse without one of its stars

There was a bit of controversy during the game on Wednesday that went unnoticed on the floor but quickly was caught on cameras and social media.

Syracuse forward Buddy Boeheim appeared to take a swing at the stomach area of Florida State guard Wyatt Wilkes.

There was no foul called on the floor, but many are wondering if the ACC would suspend the Orange star guard for Thursday’s game against Duke for his uncalled-for actions.

Tipoff between No. 9 seed Syracuse (16-16, 10-11 ACC) and No. 1 seed Duke (26-5, 16-4 ACC) is slated for 12:00 p.m. EST in Brooklyn, New York on ESPN.