Williamson Scores 29, No. 5 Duke Rolls Over Syracuse in ACC Tourney

The return on Zion Williamson was something to behold for Duke fans, the freshman forward who was out for 6 games came back with a flourish against the Syracuse Orange in their quarterfinal match up. Williamson played 36 minutes in his return to action, scoring 29 point and pulling down 14 rebounds. Frank Howard for the Orange was up to the challenge scoring a team high 28 points for Syracuse.

Duke sprinted out to a 17 point lead in the first half but a Syracuse run to end the half trimmed the Blue Devil lead down to just 6 at the break. The teams battled in the second half as the shooting percentages for both teams reached the 50% mark or better. As the game progressed the Orange became much more comfortable in their offensive flow while the Blue Devils offense seemed to stall at times.

A 3 by Buddy Boeheim, inserted into the starting lineup to replace the injured Tyus Battle, at the 13:20 mark tied the game at 46 before Duke went on a 21 to 9 run to put the game out of reach. Neither team took very good care of the Basketball combining for 35 turnovers.

For Syracuse, Buddy Boeheim stepped in, as he did in their opening round game against Pitt, and had himself another great game. Boeheim went 3-5 from beyond the arc and scored 15 points for the Orange. The Orange got a huge game from Frank Howard who poured in 28 points on 11-20 shooting. Oshae Brissett, who’d earlier in the year been criticized for not being aggressive enough offensively added 14 points on 4-9 shooting, he also pulled down 7 rebounds.

In addition to Zion’s huge game, R.J. Barrett added 23 points and 6 rebounds. Point guard Tre Jones did not have his best game of the year but the freshman guard did give the Blue Devils 15 points and 8 assists.