Mt. Zion returned tonight for Duke and it didn’t disappoint.
Duke’s Zion Williamson return was HIGHLY anticipated – with many people feeling like he should’ve but as a competitor, you have to understand that it’s not in your nature to not only sit but help your team win.
In their win against Syracuse,84-72, Zion shot perfectly in field goals tying an ACC single-game record for field goal accuracy by going 13-13 and ending the night with 29 points. But of course, the elephant in the room wasn’t his nearly perfect game (2-9 FT) but his shoes and his dependability on them.
The shoes were incredible this game. I couldn’t really specifically tell you if I wanted to (the difference). I just know they’re a little stronger than the regular Kyrie 4’s, so I want to thank Nike for making these, but, yeah, they felt very comfortable.
It’s no secret on the relationship between Duke and Nike and when asked about how diligent Nike was in making sure Zion was taken care, Coach K gave us some insight.
Yeah, well we have a very close relationship with them. We think it’s the best shoe or else we wouldn’t be with them. And right after the event, they sent their top people out here to figure out what went wrong, the next day. And then those people went to China to actually look at the making of a shoe that would be very supportive and then they came back within a week with different alternatives to make sure that it was done right. So their immediate, great response was appreciated and it was something that we have grown to expect from our relationship with them.
Safe to say Nike made sure a busted show never happens again on live tv during the most anticipated college basketball game in front of 4.5 million viewers again.
Duke advances to face UNC tonight at 9 pm.
