DURHAM, N.C. — As the Cameron Crazies rose into a frenzy, Justise Winslow looked to his left.

He had just connected on a 3 to push Duke’s lead to 10, and had just one more aspect of the Blue Devils’ celebration to check off.

Mike Krzyzewski’s outstretched hand, waiting for a high-five.

In the most lopsided meeting of the new rivalry, Syracuse (18-11, 9-7 Atlantic Coast) fell flat in a 73-54 loss at the hands of No. 4 Duke (26-3, 13-3) on Saturday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Rakeem Christmas fouled out with 9:42 left in his rematch with phenom Jahlil Okafor and his absence doomed a 30.6 percent-shooting offense that had little shot of coming back to begin with.

Duke shot 48.3 percent from the field, including 8-of-23 from 3, to overpower a Syracuse team that came in with as much momentum — a pair of top-12 upsets in the last 10 days — as a postseason-less team could’ve hoped for.

SU missed four shots and lost three turnovers before finally making a shot and though the Orange held an early 13-10 lead, Duke picked it up soon after. Winslow tallied 13 of his 15 first-half points after the 11:37 mark to pick up where Okafor left off.

By the half, the Blue Devils were ahead 34-25. SU’s 10 turnovers weren’t helping its cause offensively, where the Orange shot 29 percent to Duke’s 44.1.

Christmas awoke from his quiet first half to account for Syracuse’s first six points of the second half, but back-to-back 3s from Matt Jones and Winslow put SU in a 13-point pit with 14:38 remaining.

Tyler Roberson hit two free throws to bring it to 11, but Christmas picked up his fourth foul with 13:50 left before air-balling a mid-range jumper. Michael Gbinije answered a Winslow 3 with one of his own, but soon after was dejectedly walking to the SU bench for a timeout after missing another fast-break layup as the Cameron Crazies sang in unison, “You let the whole team down!”

And not long after that, they were chanting their farewells to Christmas after he picked up his fifth foul with 9:42 left and slowly walked to the Syracuse bench with SU on the verge of a 20-point deficit.

Okafor soon stretched the Blue Devils’ lead that wide, and Trevor Cooney’s late makes only salvaged his numbers.

A year after Jim Boeheim’s fury-induced ejection capped an entertaining bout, the Orange’s departure from the Cameron Indoor Stadium floor was much less thrilling.

Roberson and Chinonso Obokoh were tripping over each other on the offensive boards and Ron Patterson’s 3 was as short as SU’s attempt at an upset.

It barely grazed the rim.

Published on February 28, 2015 at 9:13 pm

Contact Phil: pmdabbra@syr.edu | @PhilDAbb