Syracuse Basketball: Keys for Orange to beat Duke at home

1. Remain intact with intensity on the defensive end

While they’ve been times during the season that the Syracuse defence has lacked, it remains a strong point of this team. Boeheim’s long-term zonal approach is the identity of this tough and scrappy Orange team. With a 93.7 defensive efficiency, ‘Cuse has been an average defence on too many occasions.

To master Duke, this time around, defense will likely play a much bigger role than it did in January. While we most definitely won’t witness as high-a-scoring game as last time around, Syracuse will be heavily reliant on their work on the defensive end.

Duke will be out for revenge, as they look to continue the college basketball dominance. The inside defense and ability to prevent the Duke big men from getting to the basket will prove to be the hardest task, but then there’s RJ and Reddish to worry about on the perimeter, who can easily be left open.

Frank Howard will need to lead his defense like he’s shown he can do in the past in a game that’ll prove to be perhaps the biggest regular season game of a handful of these players’ careers. Staying strong and constant for the 30 seconds, each Duke possession, will be the fundamentals on Saturday night and strength from the likes of Pascal Chukwu and Bourama Sidibe on the floor and the boards will give Syracuse the best chance they have of taking a win away from Duke once more.