Williams scores 28, No. 7 Duke beats Syracuse 97-72

Published Feb. 26, 2022 8:26 p.m. ET

Associated Press

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) — Mark Williams scored a season-high 28 points, Paolo Banchero had 21 and AJ Griffin added 20 as No. 7 Duke raced to an early lead and beat Syracuse 97-72 on Saturday night.

It was the final regular-season meeting between the two winningest coaches in Division I history — Duke's Mike Krzyzewski (1,195), who's retiring after the season, and Syracuse's Jim Boeheim (997). It was Krzyzewski's 200th road win in the Atlantic Coast Conference, extending his record.

Duke (25-4, 15-3 ACC) is closing in on its first ACC regular-season championship since 2010. The Blue Devils were a game ahead of Notre Dame, which beat Georgia Tech on Saturday night. The Blue Devils have a seven-game road winning streak, the longest active one by a Power 5 team.

Banchero had 4 3s and Griffin had 6 on 17 attempts, and Duke finished 15 of 32 from deep. Williams finished 11 of 14 from the floor and had 12 rebounds, and Banchero had nine assists.

Buddy Boeheim led Syracuse (15-14, 9-9) with 23, Joe Girard had 18 and freshman Benny Williams a season-high 14.

Duke raced to a 14-0 lead, hitting its first four shots and two free throws while the Orange went 0-7 and 0-3 from beyond the arc. With 11:47 left in the opening half, Duke was 11 of 12 from the floor, including 6 for 7 on 3s. Two 3s by Banchero, two more by Griffin and a dunk by Williams put the Blue Devils up 31-9 as the big Carrier Dome crowd had little to cheer.

The lead ballooned to 48-18 on a corner 3 by Banchero with 5:02 left before Buddy Boeheim hit a pair of 3s and scored 10 points to narrow the lead to 51-34 at halftime.

Banchero had 18 points and Griffin 14 in the opening half, combining to hit 8 of 11 3-pointers. The Blue Devils shot 18 of 30 (60%) and 10 of 17 (58.8%) from behind the arc in the period.

Jimmy Boeheim, who had scored 15 points in the first half of each of Syracuse's previous two games, missed the three shots he attempted and did not score in 21 minutes. Cole Swider, who was averaging 13.3, finished with two points and took just four shots.

Syracuse closed to 73-57 on a 3-pointer by Williams midway through the second half, but got no closer.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

Duke has been a fixture in the top 10 of

K'S FAREWELL TOUR

Krzyzewski was honored Wednesday night at Virginia with a plaque and Syracuse followed suit on Saturday. Coach K was given a photo of him and Jim Boeheim that was mounted on a tile from the old Carrier Dome roof and Syracuse University established an award in his honor.

BIG CROWD

Boeheim wanted fans to be able to attend without having to wear masks, but that didn't happen. The game drew 31,803, the 85th time that attendance has surpassed 30,000. Duke's visit three years ago set the Carrier Dome record of 35,642. A moment of silence was held before the game in honor Ukraine.

BIG PICTURE

Duke: The Blue Devils have been the class of the ACC all season. Duke is the conference's lone ranked team and will have a high seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Syracuse: The Orange entered the game 0-7 in the important Quadrant 1 games and were mired at 86th in the NCAA's NET rankings. In a down year for the ACC, the automatic bid that goes to the conference tournament champion likely remains the only hope for Syracuse to make the NCAA Tournament.

UP NEXT

Duke: At Pittsburgh on Tuesday night.

Syracuse: At North Carolina on Monday night.

___

More AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/College-basketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25