The Syracuse Orange had their March Madness hopes riding on this game, and senior John Gillon may have just saved their season.
As the clock was winding down in the second half, Gillon looked like he wanted to dribble out the clock and force overtime. Instead, he quickly turned the ball up court and banked home a desperation three as the buzzer sounded.
The Orange upset (10) Duke 78-75 on John Gillon's buzzer-beater! #DukevsCuse pic.twitter.com/TvMD3dPW2a
— TBN (@TBNMedia) February 23, 2017
The Orange improved to 17-12 (9-7) on the year as Duke got handed their sixth loss overall and fifth in conference play.
Gillon ended the night with 26 points on 9-of-14 shooting and six assists, and freshman Tyus Battle poured in 18. For Duke, Luke Kennard led the way with 23 points, seven rebounds and five assists, while Jayson Tatum had one of his best games of the year with 19 points, 13 rebounds and six assists.
Grayson Allen, who got booed by the 30,000-plus person crowd every time he touched the ball, had a very poor showing and shot just 2-of-11 for eight points.
Duke is the third top-10 team to be beaten by Syracuse this season, joining Florida State (sixth at the time) and Virginia (ninth), and all of those victories have come within the last month. The Orange wrap up the schedule with games against (7) Louisville and Georgia Tech, while Duke gets Miami (FL), Florida State and UNC in their last three.
Start a conversation with me on Twitter
