The Blue Devils have not made the Final Four since Duke head coach Joanne P. McCallie’s arrival in 2007. But that’s just what she was hired to do in 2007, after she had taken Michigan State to the 2005 national championship game.
After three consecutive Elite Eight exits, McCallie and the second-seeded Blue Devils (33-2) hope to get over that hump Tuesday against No. 1 seed Notre Dame at 7 p.m.
It will not be easy—the Fighting Irish (34-1) are led by basketball-sensation Skylar Diggins, who notched 27 points, nine assists and three steals against 12th-seeded Kansas this past Sunday. Averaging 17.1 points and 5.9 assists per game, Diggins is a dynamic point guard who can do it on her own or make her teammates better.
“You have to understand that she’s very good,” McCallie said. “She’ll score points, but if we could have her score points in more difficult fashion. People are going to score points here, a lot of very good players, but it’s how they do it, I think, that is the key.”
But Duke has some talented players who can hope to contain Diggins’ scoring. Freshman point guard Alexis Jones has taken the reins and excelled for the Blue Devils since junior Chelsea Gray went down with a season-ending knee injury. In Duke’s Sweet 16 win against Nebraska, Jones recorded 14 points, nine rebounds and six assists.
Going against a star like Diggins will undoubtedly be her toughest test of the season. Jones insists, however, she has the experience to handle one of the most complete players in the game.
“I have never played against Diggins before,” Jones said. “But she is like any other good player that we’ve played against. I’ve played in USA basketball before and played against good players. It’s going to be another good game for us.”
When Notre Dame gets going, things can get pretty ugly for its opponent. Kansas, a 20-win team, looked virtually helpless in Sunday’s 30-point thrashing. The Jayhawks are not the only talented team to have fallen victim to Notre Dame. The Connecticut Huskies, who embarrassed Duke in a 79-49 rout in January, have lost to Notre Dame three times this season alone.
And what makes the Fighting Irish so difficult to defend is that Diggins isn’t their only weapon. Junior Natalie Achonwa, who averages 13.9 points and 9.5 rebounds per game, is just one of many other options head coach Muffet McGraw can look to when opponents overcommit on Diggins.
“[Achonwa] is so important to our team,” McGraw said. “She makes such a huge difference when she’s one the floor, both ends… we were a different team in the second half [against Kansas] when she was playing well.”
The list goes on. Junior Kayla McBride, Diggins’ backcourt mate, averages 15.9 points per game and provides great energy on the defensive end of the floor. Jewell Lloyd, a 5-foot-10 freshman, averages 12.4 points per game and can stretch the floor with a dangerous 45.7 percent 3-point shooting stroke. Despite the myriad of weapons in McGraw’s arsenal, McCallie insists that her Blue Devils are locked in.
“All the projections are for the fans,” McCallie said. “A great team is a team that doesn’t have any fan mentality in them whatsoever. [We] just simply [want] to execute what we need to execute and what we need to do to be successful.”
Coming off wins against Oklohoma State and Nebraska that were less than convincing, Duke will need a great performance on Tuesday in order to advance. Elizabeth Williams, who tallies 15.4 points and 7.4 rebounds per game, knows that the Blue Devils will not be afforded any shortcuts if they are to survive Notre Dame.
“In the past, we have gotten away with only playing for a half and not staying focused throughout the whole game,” Williams said. “So for us, it will be our ability to play through 40 minutes or however long it takes.”
Despite the pressure to advance, junior guard Tricia Liston says Duke has embraced its underdog role for Tuesday’s game.
“No one thinks we can do this besides ourselves,” Liston said. “It is a source of motivation to go out and prove to ourselves and everyone else that we belong here.”
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