OMAHA, Neb. — One day before 11th-seeded Syracuse (23-13, 8-10 Atlantic Coast) faces No. 2 seed Duke (28-7, 13-5), Blue Devils head coach Mike Krzyzewski discussed the Sweet 16 matchup from the CenturyLink Center.

Here are three notable things he said.

Duke riding a hot shooting hand and “hopefully that can continue”

Two of the Blue Devils’ seven losses this season have come over their past six games. But Duke showed no signs of a possible slide when it routed Rhode Island, 87-62, in the Round of 32. Duke shot 10-for-21 from 3-point range and 56.9 percent from the field in the game, making it one of Duke’s best shooting performances this season.

“We’re healthy, excited and playing very good basketball right now,” Krzyzewski said. “Hopefully we can keep that going.”

He added: “I think offense is an up-and-down type of thing. But overall we’ve been outstanding — we haven’t been an up-and-down offensive team. We’ve been a good offensive team all year long.

“And if you only depend on the 3, then you’re going to be in trouble. But we’ve been a good rebounding team. And we have good inside players. So I think more balance, balance is the key to being a really good offensive team. And for the most part we’ve had that. Hopefully we’ll be able to hit the 3 tomorrow, but I’ll be more concerned with just having balance.”

The last meeting had NIT written all over it, but both teams have changed

In the Syracuse-Duke matchup on Feb. 24, a 60-44 Duke win, Syracuse executed its game plan and still got crushed by then-No. 5 Duke. Near the end of the game, the Duke student section shouted, “N-I-T!” as Syracuse’s offense sputtered to just 44 points. The Orange was a bubble team, far from its best brand of basketball in front of a raucous crowd at Cameron Indoor.

SU’s big three scorers of Frank Howard, Tyus Battle and Oshae Brissett combined for only 29 points and had more turnovers (11) than made shots (10). But Krzyzewski said neither team played well.

“Sometimes that happens in a grueling conference schedule,” Krzyzewski said. “Hopefully the other team isn’t playing well and you’re playing well. But I thought we were both a little bit run down during that time.

“And so I don’t think it’s a good indicator. I think I heard Marvin (Bagley III) mention something about it, that — they’re different and we are too,” he continued. “They’re better. We’re better. Marvin had been out for two weeks and he just came back that day. Brissett and (Marek) Dolezaj are different players for them than they were on Feb. 24. We’re both better teams right now.”

Coach K ain’t no Billy Crystal

For years, Krzyzewski and SU head coach Jim Boeheim have been close friends. Together they’ve combined to win 2,024 games over 85 years of coaching. They’ve coached in all but two of the last 42 NCAA Tournaments. Their ages don’t stray far from each other: Krzyzewski is 71, Boeheim is 73. And they spent 11 summers together coaching for Team USA, which created a bond between them.

“Look, I’m not Billy Crystal here or whatever,” Krzyzewski said. “Jim Boeheim to me is my best friend in coaching and one of the really great coaches in the history of our game. And what he did to spend 11 years as — I call him my co-coach with U.S. — was terrific. And I could not have had a better guy. That’s why I chose him and asked him three times to be that.

“And so we have a bond that is very, very tight. And so do our families. So that’s the difficult part about tomorrow. But the fact that we’re both here, that’s good, that’s good.”

Published on March 22, 2018 at 6:25 pm

Contact Matthew: mguti100@syr.edu | @MatthewGut21