Duke Basketball: 3 keys for the Blue Devils to succeed versus Syracuse

Duke Basketball: 3 keys for the Blue Devils to win versus Syracuse

TALLAHASSEE, FL - JANUARY 12: Cam Reddish #2, Jack White #41 and RJ Barrett #5 of the Duke Blue Devils celebrate against the Florida State Seminoles during the second half at Donald L. Tucker Center on January 12, 2019 in Tallahassee, Florida. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /

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TALLAHASSEE, FL – JANUARY 12: Cam Reddish #2 of the Duke Blue Devils celebrates with teammates after defeating the Florida State Seminoles 80-78 at Donald L. Tucker Center on January 12, 2019 in Tallahassee, Florida. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /

Duke Basketball will go head to head with ACC rival Syracuse Orange on Monday night. The Blue Devils look to expose the zone defense of Syracuse and leave with another win.

No. 1 Duke Basketball will face-off with the Syracuse Orange on Monday, January 14 in Cameron Indoor. This ACC conference match-up can be viewed on ESPN at 7:00 PM ET.

The Blue Devils are coming off a hard-fought win at Florida State on Saturday. Duke was able to defeat Florida State 80-78 after Cam Reddish hit a three-point dagger with 2.8 seconds left to win the game. R.J Barrett led the team in the second half – dropping 32 points on ten of nineteen shooting from the floor. Reddish was also able to assist Barrett and score 23 points on nine of fifteen shooting. The Blue Devils win over Florida State moved them to (14-1) overall and (3-0) in the ACC conference.

The Blue Devils will have another difficult test versus Syracuse at home on Monday night. The Orange are known for playing a 2-3 zone that can cause troubles for even the most experienced teams. This defense will be like nothing the young Blue Devils have seen before. Syracuse will challenge the Blue Devils to shoot three-pointers over top of the zone and shoot them out of it. This could be a problem for a Duke team that struggles shooting the three-pointer consistently.

Syracuse has had an inconsistent season, to say the least. The Orange started the season with high hopes starting No.16 in the country. After moving up one spot in the polls to No.15 – the Orange lost consecutive games dropping them out of the polls. The Orange are currently (11-5) overall and (2-1) in ACC conference play.

Here are three keys for the Blue Devils to succeed versus the Syracuse Orange on Monday night.

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