Okafor’s Double Double Powers No. 4 Duke Past Syracuse, 80-72

Story and photo By Julia Morris

Syracuse, N.Y/ -- At the start of the second half of the Syracuse- Duke game, Blue Devils’ freshman standout Jahlil Okafor opened up scoring with an emphatic, one-handed dunk. 

While it was just one play, Okafor’s jam represented much more than a basket that cut Syracuse’s three-point halftime lead to one.  The play was also a preview of Okafor’s dominant second half performance in which he scored 16 of his team-leading 23 points. 

And while the dunk did not give No. 4 Duke (22-3,9-3) the lead, it did give the team momentum that it would build on en route to its 80-72 victory over Syracuse (16-9, 7-5 ACC) in front of a sold out crowd of 35,446 fans at the Carrier Dome on Saturday night.

“He’s a tremendous player, he’ll be the first pick in the draft,” Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said.  “He’s got the best footwork of any big guy that I’ve seen and they did a great job of finding him against the zone down there.  He’s a great finisher around the basket.”

Gbinije’s 19 Points Power Orange to First Half Lead

While Okafor shined in the second half, it was former Duke player Michael Gbinije who stole the show in the first, hitting five-of-six shots from three point range.  Syracuse led at the break thanks in part to a 19-point performance by the Orange guard.  With 8:12 left in the half, he sparked a 9-0 Syracuse run by hitting three consecutive three pointers.  His first one broke an 18-18 tie, giving Syracuse a 21-18 lead.  The third one sent the Dome crowd into a frenzy and extended the Orange lead to nine with 6:23 left in the half.

“First half I was feeling it and I went after it,” Gbinije said.

But Duke closed in on the Orange with some hot three-point shooting of its own at the end of the first.  Senior Quinn Cook, who finished the game with 17 points, hit a three from the left corner of the arc with 3:07 left to cut the Orange lead to eight.  Less than a minute later, Justise Winslow hit a three from the same spot to bring the Blue Devils within five.  Then Matt Jones drained one with 1:30 to pull Duke within one.   However, Gbinije again came through for the Orange and hit a jumper with just over a minute  to go to send Syracuse to the locker room with a three point lead.

“Mike’s playing great," Boeheim said. "I don’t think you can ask any player to do anything more than what Mike’s doing.”

Okafor was relatively quiet in the first half, shooting just 3-of-9 from the field.  Christmas and the Orange were not afraid to get physical with the six-foot-eleven, 270-pound Blue Devils center and limited him to only seven points in the 20 minutes of play. 

Okafor, Duke Come out Strong in Second Half

But if Okafor flew under the radar in the first, he made his presence known in the second.  His dunk that opened up scoring after the break also ignited a 13-2 run for the Blue Devils.  On Duke’s next possession, he almost fumbled a pass by Winslow in the paint but was able to regain control of the ball and lay it in to put Duke back up by one, 40-39.  

Tyler Roberson had the only Orange basket during the Duke run.  Roberson, who has been challenged in the past by Coach Boeheim to be more aggressive, threw down a dunk over Amile Jefferson to give Syracuse its first points of the half.  He finished with a career-high nineteen points and ten rebounds.

“I think I played well,” Roberson said. “And I just have to take some of the things I did today and use it in games going forward.”

But Roberson’s tough play could not match Okafor’s.  The Chicago native scored the final two points of the Blue Devils' run when he threw down a two-handed slam after Trevor Cooney turned the ball over while pushing it down the court in transition.  The dunk gave Duke a 49-41 lead with 15:33 to go in the game. 

“The rotation wasn’t good enough to contest the shots and make them difficult,” Trevor Cooney said.  “They were pushing on us and we weren’t getting back.”

The Duke run also diminished the energy of the Syracuse crowd, which included former Orange players Tyler Ennis, Dion Waiters, and Scoop Jardine.  After Okafor's dunk, some Syracuse fans tried to get a chant of “Let’s Go Orange” going - but the cheers never diffused.

However, the crowd’s buzz escalated again after Rakeem Christmas hit a jumper to pull the Orange within six with 4:42 to go.  Fans were on their feet as Roberson cut the Blue Devils lead to four, 66-62, sinking two free throws with 3:51 left on the clock. 
 

Christmas had the chance to make a layup and cut the lead to two with 2:45 left but the ball rolled in and out of the basket - and with it, so did the Orange’s chances of coming back.   

Christmas, Cooney struggle

The matchup between Christmas and Okafor was highly anticipated, as both average 18 points per game and are regarded as two of the best big men in the ACC.  However, Christmas, who was coming off a below average performance against Boston College, again struggled and fell short of expectations.  Syracuse's leading scorer was limited to only eleven points on 5-of-17 shooting. 

“He had some good looks and the ball just didn’t get to go down for him there,” Boeheim said. 

Trevor Cooney,  another player Syracuse relies on for offensive contributions, was also limited to eleven points and was 3-of-10 from three-point range.

Okafor slammed down one final dunk with 1:58 left on the clock to put Duke up eight, capping a perfect 7-for-7 second half from the field.  To go along with his twenty three points, he also had 13 rebounds and recorded his ninth double-double of the season. The Orange fouled the Blue Devils on several possessions as the clock was winding down, but Duke was a perfect 10-for-10 at the line in the final minute and all Syracuse could do was watch as the game got out of reach.

Looking Ahead

Boeheim said after the game that right now Syracuse is playing as well as it can play.

“I don’t think we can play any better honestly,” Boeheim said.  “We played well today I just think that right now we’re not good enough to win these games. I think we’ve improved, I think we are improving but we still have to get better and we’ll see what happens Wednesday.”  

Syracuse will face another ranked opponent Wednesday when the team hosts No. 9 Louisville.  Tip off is set for 7 p.m.

With the win, Duke Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski earned his 1,005^th win.  His Blue Devils will also resume play on Wednesday and host rival No. 12 North Carolina.  Game time is 9 p.m. 

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Coach Boeheim Post-Game

Michael Gbinije Post-Game

Trevor Cooney Post-Game

Tyler Roberson Post-Game