Last year’s Syracuse-Duke games provided a special kind of thrill.

The Orange’s 91-89 overtime victory in the Carrier Dome and Duke taking a 66-60 thriller following Jim Boeheim’s tantrum were as exhilarating as the Atlantic Coast Conference could’ve hoped for the new rivalry.

“There’s no one that I’m closer to in our profession than Jim,” Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “And no one that I respect more than Jim. So that’s the kind of rivalry I think we have.”

Saturday’s 80-72 decision in No. 4 Duke’s (22-3, 9-3 ACC) favor over SU (16-9, 7-5) wasn’t quite on the level of last season’s meetings, but the high level of play was consistent and the atmosphere — courtesy of a record-tying Carrier Dome audience of 35,446 fans — didn’t waver much, either.

“This is one of the reasons why I came to Syracuse because I want to play in games like this on a big stage. I had fun,” SU forward Tyler Roberson said.

But when asked by a reporter about being Syracuse’s new “Georgetown” — a longtime Big East rivalry that was put on pause by SU’s move to the ACC — Krzyzewski pointed out that his Duke program has rivalries that extend well beyond the Orange.

“I don’t know what we are. I think we are a lot of people’s something. It’s nice to be wanted,” Krzyzewski said. “It’s a great rivalry because we’ve both built some unique programs and we get center stage. We’ll handle it the right way.

“… All I know is that we get everyone’s best shot and we’re trying to give everyone our best shot. That’s the way it’s been for 25 years, for us. It ain’t going to change.”

It certainly didn’t change Saturday night, as the Orange jumped out to an 11-point lead in the first half before falling off in the second.

And when asked about the atmosphere in the Dome — a culmination of week-long camping out by SU students and months of hype building off last season’s games — Krzyzewski didn’t give the fans too much credit for his team’s slow start.

“We weren’t losing because our guys were intimidated,” Krzyzewski said. “We were losing because they were so damn good.

“…But as far as being intimidated, we play every game away like that. Not 36,000, but every game is like that, where people really want to beat us badly.”

Published on February 14, 2015 at 11:54 pm

Contact Phil: pmdabbra@syr.edu | @PhilDAbb