The Blue Devils had a sound game plan to limit the Connecticut offense: Mix up defenses, swarm on Husky forward Maya Moore and pound the glass.
Duke accomplished all three of these goals, and it still lost by 33. That’s how most of this season has gone for Connecticut, who has not lost in its last 57 contests, winning all 57 by double digits.
In the first half, the Blue Devils pressed the Huskies after most made baskets and seamlessly switched defenses from a trapping 3-2 zone to a pressure man-to-man.
“I thought it was not a bad defensive effort in the first half overall,” head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “We did some good things, but we didn’t carry those through.”
Moore seemed off her game in the half, scoring only six points on two wide-open 3-pointers while avoiding most of the rough play inside.
Duke’s defense forced eight Connecticut turnovers and used a packed house in Cameron Indoor Stadium in an attempt to rattle the Huskies. On one specific occasion, the Crazies tricked Connecticut center Tina Charles into chucking a 30 foot 3-pointer while there were still five seconds left on the shot clock. Charles’s shot was more like a fastball and smashed into the shot clock, ironically revealing that she had been fooled.
Nevertheless, Connecticut took a double-digit lead into halftime and ten minutes into the second half it was clear that the Huskies were simply too good.
“They’re an excellent team,” McCallie said. “They do a lot of things well. Defensively they’re aggressive, of course, but they’re the best transition team I’ve seen in a long while. They could probably run with the pros transition-wise.”
Duke could not be faulted for lack of effort as it fought hard on the boards and actually outrebounded Connecticut for the game. However, with all the action going on inside, the Huskies simply switched their attention to the 3-point line, hitting 13-for-25 on the night. Guard Tiffany Hayes hit three 3-pointers, including two from well beyond the men’s arc. Moore hit six 3-pointers, although a few of those came after the result of the game was no longer in doubt.
Every time it seemed the momentum may have switched to the Blue Devils, Connecticut responded with a run of its own. Duke opened the second half with more pressure defense, and Jasmine Thomas stole the ball on the Huskies’ first possession. After her layup the Blue Devils only trailed by eight. But this was as close as they would get in the second half, as Hayes hit one of her long treys less than a minute later and the rout was on.
“I thought our IQ dropped for the second half,” McCallie said. “We made some choices that hurt us greatly.”
In the second half, Connecticut used sharp passing to prove its superiority. They moved the ball all around the court and had assists on 80 percent of their field goals.
There were a few positives to take away from the game. McCallie pointed to the end of the first half, when the Blue Devils played even with Connecticut over the final seven and a half minutes. To Duke’s credit, its defensive pressure never let up even in the second half when it seemed the Huskies could not miss. And of course, the 33-point win actually reduced the Huskies’ average margin of victory this season, which was 39.7 before their trip to Durham.
“I’m very proud of our team’s effort in terms of playing hard,” said McCallie, “but very disappointed [in the end result] as you might imagine.”
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