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Duke center Mark Williams posts career-high in blowout win vs. Syracuse

Wade-Peeryby: Wade Peery02/27/22
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(Photo by Lance King/Getty Images)

Duke’s 7-foot-1 center Mark Williams is one of the most unstoppable forces in college basketball. He found no resistance on Saturday night as his Blue Devils dominated the Syracuse Orange from start to finish, 97-72 on Saturday. Williams pumped in a career-high 28 points, corralling 12 rebounds, and three blocks.

The sophomore from Virginia Beach, Virginia is blessed with an incredible amount of power and strength both on the offensive and defensive sides of the basketball.

Williams was not the only player that stuffed the stat sheet in the win for the Blue Devils. Paolo Banchero, Mark Williams, and AJ Griffin became the first Duke men’s basketball trio to each score 20 points in a game since Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett, and Cam Reddish did it. The trio did it twice in November 2018.

Coming out of IMG Academy (Bradenton, Florida) Williams was rated as a four-star prospect according to the On3 Consensus Rankings. He was also rated as the No. 28 prospect in the nation for the 2020 recruiting cycle. Needless to say, Williams has lived up to the hype and then some. He’s expected to be a first-round pick in the 2022 NBA Draft and with good reason. He’s averaging 10.5 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 2.9 blocks per game.

It’s hard to overstate his importance to the Blue Devils’ roster. Check out these stats.

Williams is an incredible talent and the ferocity with which he plays both ends of the floor is a sight to behold. He currently ranks 10th in the country in blocked shots per game. Few players can match his strength and power at the rim, on both ends.

He’s going to be a nightmare for opposing teams to deal with in March. The IMG Academy product is a just one of the many reasons why the Blue Devils are going to be a problem for the rest of the season.