By ADAM ZAGORIA
Tyus Battle went off for 32 points and 4 rebounds as Syracuse stunned No. 1 Duke on Monday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
The 95-91 overtime win over Duke — which was down two starters — gave the Orange a huge résumé win going forward. It also marked the fourth win in six tries over a No. 1 team for Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, and the first as an unranked team since Syracuse beat UConn in the 2006 Big East Tournament.
It was Duke’s first home loss against an unranked opponent.
Paschal Chukwu’s putback dunk put Syracuse up 95-91 with 45 seconds left in OT to help Syracuse improve to 12-5, 3-1 in the ACC.
“Just laser focus,” Battle told ESPN. “Everyone was locked in at practice yesterday It’s tough coming off the loss [to Georgia Tech] and coming here but that’s why we’re ACC and it’s a great opportunity for us.”
Duke was without Cam Reddish (flu-like symptoms) and Tre Jones, who is now out indefinitely with a shoulder injury sustained in the first half after hitting the ground hard, “It’s a shoulder sprain, but there’s no break,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “He was in a lot of pain when he was down. He’s just the toughest kid. Right away, he said, ‘I don’t know if my collarbone is broken,’ and it was hurting that badly. But it’s a sprain.” Zion Williamson went for a career-high 35 points and 10 rebounds. R.J. Barrett added 23 points, 16 rebounds and 9 assists and Alex O’Connell notched a career-high 16 points. Williamson and Barrett, who combined for 58 points, are the projected 1-2 picks in the NBA Draft.Tyus Battle was feeling it for @Cuse_MBB
Battled scored season-high 32 points in the upset win#OrangeNaiton (@tyusbattle1) pic.twitter.com/mh9SybPZUV — ACC Digital Network (@theACCDN) January 15, 2019
“Zion Williamson and R.J. Barrett know they’re going 1 and 2 in the draft,” ESPN’s Jay Bilas said on air. “It’s just a question of which order, so there’s no jealousy.” Elijah Hughes added 20 points for Syracuse, Frank Howard had 16 and Oshae Brissett 14 points and 8 rebounds. Battle had a good look at a 3-pointer at the end of regulation but missed. “We have confidence in ourselves,” Battle said. “It doesn’t matter how many shots we miss, we’re going to keep on taking them. And we worked too hard to just not take the shots when we’re open.” Asked how the win felt, Battle said, “It feels great, it feels really good and hopefully we can get things going.” Duke (14-2, 2-1 ACC) lost for just the second time his season, following a loss to Gonzaga in Maui in November. Photo: Syracuse.com. Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter And Like ZAGS on FacebookTold everyone all day that Cuse was about to shock the nation tonight and they all laughed…. Who’s laughing now ??♂️ #CuseNation ???
— Joseph Girard III (@JG3_____) January 15, 2019
