DURHAM, N.C. — Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski described Monday’s 95-91 overtime loss to Syracuse and the events that led up to it as a “very unusual night.”

Unusual indeed.

Possibly better explained as something from a horror movie.

Saturday’s hero, Cam Reddish, was hit with sudden flu-like symptoms just before the game began. It was serious enough that he did not even sit on the sidelines. He was gone. Whether he was at home or somewhere in the building be tended to is unknown, but right from the start, Duke was without a key player.

“Right before we went out on the court the last time, Cameron got sick,” Krzyzewski said. “Flu-like symptoms. Out of nowhere and couldn’t play.”

Even still, there did not seem to be a ton of concern.

As expected, the energy inside Cameron Indoor Stadium was off the charts as the game was set to tip-off. And the Blue Devils clearly felt the vibe, generating an explosive start to the night that left many wondering if they would run the Orange out of the building before the first media timeout.

By the 17:19 mark of the first half, Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim was calling his first timeout in an attempt to stop the bleeding from a Duke 11-0 run to start the action. Duke stretched it to 12-0 out of the break and appeared poised to maintain control.

The Blue Devils’ defense looked to be clicking on all cylinders. Duke’s pressure was relentless, forcing Syracuse into three turnovers and three missed shots prior to Boeheim’s timeout.

The stoppage in play seemed to settle the Orange down to a degree, as they managed to outscore Duke 6-2 over the next few minutes. Despite this fact, Duke’s pressure on the ball was still intense, and the Orange ball-handlers were feeling it.

In fact, with the clock reading 14:24, Tre Jones has already registered four steals. And Duke was converting those opportunities into points.

“We started out and our kids were so ready to play and were playing their butts off,” Krzyzewski said.

“Our game plan was to pick them up full court, force them, put pressure on the ball and that was working pretty well.”

But at that 14:24 mark, everything changed for Duke. After snatching the ball from Paschal Chukwu, Jones and Syracuse’s Frank Howard collided and the Duke freshman immediately rolled to his back in agonizing pain.

Krzyzewski came to Jones as the team athletic trainers evaluated him. The injury was obviously a serious one. Jones was taken to the locker room to be evaluated and was not seen again for the rest of the night.

“Tre usually does pop right back up,” Zion Williamson said. “I saw the look on his face when he went down and that wasn’t a look of ‘I can play through it,’ that was a look of ‘I’ve never had that type of pain.’”

And Syracuse capitalized. For the next 2:08, the Orange outscored Duke 11-4. Their confidence had risen exponentially.

“We’re a different team,” Krzyzewski said. “We’re obviously a different team.

“I don’t think we handled, when it all happened in the first half, especially Tre going out - we were knocked back. Look, it gives them a lot of confidence and they’re already good. They’re a really good team. I didn’t think we handled it as well as I would want.”

Syracuse eventually eliminated Duke’s lead and tied the game up with 6:38 left in the half. The Blue Devils and Orange then traded the lead, falling behind by three with just under four minutes to play in the half.

The Orange were shooting lights out, connecting on 7-of-10 shots from beyond the 3-point line. While the visitors shot 48-percent from inside the stripe, they simply could not miss from long range.

Everything Elijah Hughes threw at the basket went through the net. He was 4-of-5 from deep, including a heave from Duke’s own 3-point line at the buzzer that swished through the hoop to cut the Blue Devils’ lead from four to just one, 49-48.

It was just one of those nights.

Duke’s defense was not necessarily bad, though there were some open looks for the Orange, it was more about Syracuse just not missing. Duke contested in most cases, but it didn’t matter.

"Those guys hit some tough shots,” Alex O’Connell said. “I thought we played some pretty good defense on live possessions. Howard and Battle played really well and hit some really tough shots.”

While Syracuse did cool off some in the second half, shots were still falling.

The same cannot be said for Duke. The Blue Devils made just 9-of-43 from 3-point range. More than half of Duke’s shots in the game came from beyond the arc, and the Devils made just 21-percent of those tries.

And generally speaking, most were open looks.

Jack White was 0-of-10 from 3-point range. He had open look after open look, most of which came from the corners, where he has been deadly for most of the season.

R.J. Barrett was 4-of-17 from deep. Williamson just 1-of-5 and Jordan Goldwire was 0-of-2. Only O’Connell had a feel from the perimeter, making 4-of-8.

“We missed so many open shots,” Krzyzewski said.

His players agreed, answering questions about why shots weren’t falling with as perplexed of a look as those that watched from the outside.

“We had open looks. Our shots just weren’t falling,” Williamson added.

Despite scoring 44 points in the paint, many coming from Williamson, who finished the day with 35 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks, Duke’s offense simply did not have it’s normal flow.

Barrett and Williamson knew they had to bear a bigger burden with Reddish and Jones out of the game, and they did their best to do so. In addition to Williamson’s outstanding effort, Barrett finished the night one assist shy of a triple double. The freshman scored 23 points, pulled down 16 rebounds and handed out nine assists to just one turnover.

Aside from the missed 3-pointers, he was sensational. As was Williamson.

“There’s a burden that’s placed on he (Barrett) and Zion in that situation, because they know they have to carry more,” Krzyzewski said. “The fact that they tried to do that - I like that. We weren’t successful enough to win, but the fact they stepped forward and put it on the line, I love that they did that.”

They did not do it alone, though. Duke players stepped up and never gave in. O’Connell came off the bench and tried to pickup the slack on defense, pressuring the ball as it came up the floor. He tried to help setup the offense and feed the ball into the heart of the Syracuse zone.

He was successful at times, and at others not, but he gave Duke everything he had. He scored 16 points and added two steals, and just missed on several others.

Marques Bolden was big for Duke, recording a double-double with 12 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks. They all stepped up their effort to pick up for Jones and Reddish.

Even with guys embracing the moment, Jones’ absence was felt.

“Tre obviously brings that incredible ball pressure and I think he would’ve helped us penetrate the zone a little more because he’s quick,” O’Connell said. “I think he would have helped us space the floor a little more.

“I knew somebody was going to have to step up and produce something when Tre went down. It was really hard to see Tre go down just because he is such a key piece to our team. But I knew somebody was going to have to pick up some of the slack that was left when he got hurt. I just tried to play my hardest and really fight tonight.”

The loss certainly left a bad taste in the Duke locker room, but the absence of Reddish and Jones undoubtedly delivered a blow to the Blue Devils.

Duke fought to overcome it, but in the end it was not enough.

“Very unusual night. A lot of adversity tonight,” Krzyzewski said. “Not that we are, but you can assume that everything is always going to be great and life happens. Life happened to our team tonight.

“This was a very difficult night for our basketball program and our team. We’ll figure out ways of handling it.”