Syracuse Orange at Duke Blue Devils

Bagley returns, leads No. 5 Duke past Syracuse 60-44

The key difference: The Blue Devils could pound the ball inside to Marvin Bagley III and Wendell Carter Jr.

Bagley had 19 points in his return from a sprained knee, Carter added 16 points and 10 rebounds and Duke beat Syracuse 60-44 for its fifth straight win.

"We just try to play off of each other," Bagley said. "We've got this thing rolling now, and they've had it rolling for the last four games. We're all back, and we're ready to continue to finish out this season."

"I don't think that Coach K should really be allowed to play zone," Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim joked.

Duke pulled away down the stretch after leaning hard on the two freshman big men in a game in which the guards on both teams struggled with their shots from the perimeter against their dueling zone defenses. The teams combined to miss their first 23 3-pointers.

"We didn't let what we couldn't do on the offensive end affect what we did on the defensive end," Krzyzewski said.

Bagley, the ACC's leading scorer (21.2 ppg) and rebounder (11.4 rpg), missed four games after injuring his right knee in a loss at North Carolina on Feb. 8.

Tyus Battle, who ranks third in the league with an average of 20.1 points per game, scored 12 while Frank Howard added 11 and Paschal Chukwu had 12 rebounds. The Orange (18-11, 7-9) lost their third in four games.

BIG PICTURE

Duke: If nothing else, the Blue Devils proved they can scratch out a win. The nation's third-most productive offense, which entered averaging 87.2 points, was held way below that, and the Blue Devils didn't make a 3-pointer until Trevon Duval finally connected with about 7 1/2 minutes to play. Of course, it helped to have Bagley back for the first time in two weeks.

KEY TREND

The Blue Devils have held four straight opponents under 57 points. This was the second-fewest points allowed this season by Duke, which limited Evansville to 40 in December.

STAR WATCH

STAT SHEET

Both teams were 0 for 10 from 3-point range at halftime, and Syracuse's Oshae Brissett snapped the string of 23 straight misses by finally hitting one with about 15:15 to play. Duke missed its first 15 3s and its decades-long streak of consecutive games with a 3 was in jeopardy before Duval made one from above the top of the key. That extended the nation's fourth-longest streak to 1,013 games.

UP NEXT

Syracuse: Visits Boston College on Wednesday night.

Duke: Faces a quick turnaround with a trip to Virginia Tech on Monday night.

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