In a battle between two legendary coaches, the end result was as good as one could have hoped for. Despite a valiant effort from Jim Boeheim’s Syracuse Orange, it was coach Mike Krzyzewski and his Duke Blue Devils that came out on top 88-79 in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament.
What was expected to be an easy Duke win turned into a dogfight between the Orange and Blue Devils that looked like at different moments could be the end of the highly favored Duke’s run in the conference tournament. Syracuse led as late as the 3:32 mark of the second half after Jimmy Boeheim made a second-chance layup to put the Orange up 79-78.
That was the last time that Syracuse was in front on Thursday as Duke rattled off 10 straight points down the stretch to seal the win.
“We got the game we expected,” Krzyzewski said. “Jim’ program, he’s got a program for almost five decades that has a lot of pride and if you gave him five possessions during the year, they’d be an NCAA tournament team right now. … I thought we started the game well then fell in love with the three-point shot. I thought it was going to be easier, and they got momentum. We started fouling, and they saw the ball go in a lot, and then it was a helluva game.
“Proud of my guys for especially executing down the stretch.”
The matchup with Syracuse was Duke’s first of the tournament after earning a bye through the first two rounds after finishing the season as the top seed in the ACC. Thursday also marked the first time Duke had played since they suffered their most disappointing loss of the year against North Carolina last weekend, which also marked Krzyzewski’s last game at Camdon Indoor.
There was a certain level of anticipation for their first game of the tournament to see how the Blue Devils would respond to their season-ending loss.
“I think it was really important,” Mark Williams said about learning from the North Carolina loss. “We had to learn from that game, but at the same time, we had to move on. We can’t really harp on that game too much because then you’re playing mind games with yourself or thinking, what if this happens? What if that happens? I think you had to just go out there, play your game, be confident, go out there and win the game, and that’s what we did.”
Wenell Moore Jr. had 26 points in the win for Duke and shot 9-of-20 from the field and went 4-for-4 from the free-throw line. Jeremy Roach finished the game with 19 points and shot 50% from three-point range and Williams had 15 points.
Duke shot 32-of-67 from the field and 11-of-32 from three.
Jimmy Boeheim had 28 points for Syracuse in the loss while shooting 11-for-20. Joseph Girard III had 23 points and Cole Swider finished the day with 15.
Syracuse played without Buddy Boeheim, who was suspended for one game due to an incident that occurred in Wednesday’s win over Florida State.
Thursday’s quarterfinals meeting likely marked the final meeting between Krzyzewski and Jim Boeheim. The two were seen chatting prior to the start of the game and have been close friends for years with their families especially being close.
“We’re the best friends. I don’t know if there’s anybody in coaching that could be better friends with another coach in his profession than me and Jim,” Krzyzewski said. “I mean, that comes way before USA basketball, with P.J. Carlesimo and Mike Fratello. The four of us were like brothers, and then the 11 years with the U.S. Team. I mean, we grew up — we saw Buddy and Jimmy grow up. My older — two older grandsons are best friends with them.
So they’re like family. My wife, Mickie and Juli are — they text and call all the time. So there’s nobody except a former player that I cheer for more than Jim. So it’s tough playing against them, and we were fortunate enough to win today.”
