3 takeaways from Zion Williamson’s perfect night in his return from injury

Zion Williamson is perfect. Duke’s freshman phenom returned to the hardwood Thursday night in the ACC tournament to lead the No. 3-seeded Blue Devils to a win over the No. 6 seed Syracuse, 84-72. All Williamson did was finish with 29 points, 14 rebounds, and five steals on perfect 13-of-13 shooting from the field.

Williamson had missed six games with a mild knee sprain after blowing out his shoe against North Carolina Feb. 20. The Blue Devils finished the season 3-3 without Williamson, including getting swept by the Tar Heels. Now, Duke will face UNC for a third time this season as the hated rivals square off in the ACC tournament semifinals at 9 p.m. (or 25 minutes after the conclusion of Virginia-FSU).

Here are three observations from Williamson’s incredible return.

You never would have guessed Williamson missed six games watching him against ‘Cuse. He soared through the air for dunks and rebounds, threw crisp passes, and never seemed winded during his 35 minutes of court time.

Williamson was perfect from the opening tip, starting the game 7-for-7 from the field with 15 points and helping the Blue Devils get out to a double-digit lead mid-way in the first half. The only place he struggled at was the free-throw line, where he finished the game just 2-of-9.

Williamson’s return paid immediate dividends for Duke. He had 21 of the Blue Devils’ 34 first half points, while the rest of the team shot 4-for-18 from the field in the opening 20 minutes.

His performance was completely absurd. If UNC can complete a three-game season sweep of Duke with Williamson finally back in the lineup, the Tar Heels will really impress us.

Duke with Zion is 24-2. Duke without Williamson is 3-3. At full strength, Duke’s only loss came to Gonzaga in November as part of the Maui Invitational. The question is, how does the committee treat Duke? They’re clearly a different team with Williamson, both offensively and defensively. Without him, all of Duke’s flaws were obvious. They didn’t defend particularly well inside, giving up too many easy buckets. RJ Barrett and Cam Reddish — while hyper-talented — aren’t particularly efficient offensively.

There’s still a lot of basketball to be played in the ACC tournament, especially as a meeting with North Carolina looms Friday night, and as Virginia is still alive on the other side of the bracket. It’s looking like a No. 1 seed is squarely back on the table, and — if they run the gauntlet and win the ACC tourney — they could still have a shot at the coveted No. 1 seed in the East (Washington, D.C. regional).

I’ve never seen an entire arena stand in anticipation of a monster dunk, but here we are.

This was one of many extraordinarily athletic plays the freshman made, each resulting in a more incredulous reaction from the crowd.