Duke women's basketball returns home to face N.C. State trying to find itself

The suddenly reeling Blue Devils will look to right the ship during a quick two-game homestand after a rough start in conference play.

After a rollercoaster of a three-game stretch, No. 22 Duke returns home to take on N.C. State Thursday at 7 p.m. at Cameron Indoor Stadium. In their first three ACC games, the Blue Devils have oscillated between managing a season-low 50 points on the road in an ugly loss to Syracuse, erupting for a season-high 95 points against Wake Forest and then mustering a new season-low 48 points in a blowout loss at the hands of Louisville Sunday.

“It’s a definite work in progress,” Duke head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “I like this team’s potential and I like the fact that they are starting to get things—some of the intangibles in our defenses—and we’ll go from there.”

Previously ranked 12th in the nation, the Blue Devils (12-5, 1-2 in the ACC) have plummeted to 22nd after the pair of road losses to the Orange and the Cardinals early in ACC play. To compound matters, redshirt freshman forward Lynée Belton is nursing a left ankle sprain, but McCallie’s squad is back in the friendly confines of Durham, where it is 8-1 this season.

There is a stark difference between the Blue Devils’ performances at home and on the road, where Duke is 1-4. At Cameron Indoor Stadium, the Blue Devils have outscored their opponents by an average of 22.3 points per game, but have been crushed by an average of 13.4 points per game away from home.

Much of that discrepancy can be attributed to a difference in the quality of the opponents Duke has faced at home and on the road—including losses at No. 2 South Carolina, No. 9 Kentucky and No. 23 Louisville—but that is not the full problem. The Blue Devils have not been able to find a rhythm on the offensive end in road gyms this season, dishing out 6.3 fewer assists and coughing up 4.3 more turnovers per game on the road.

For a talented yet largely inexperienced squad, Duke will need to look to sharpshooter Rebecca Greenwell to rediscover the team’s momentum during the two-game homestand.

Greenwell registered 16 points in the team’s contest against N.C. State (12-5, 3-1) last season—a 72-59 loss in Raleigh. But now, the redshirt sophomore has shifted positions for the Blue Devils. Once a guard who often brought the ball across midcourt, she is now featured primarily as a shooting guard. The change has paid off for McCallie’s squad, as Greenwell is averaging 18.2 points and 6.6 rebounds per game at home this season.

The Owensboro, Ky., native has also been trusted to shut down the opponent’s top scorers. Against the Wolfpack, Greenwell will draw tough assignments once again within Duke’s traditional matchup zone. Sophomore forward Jennifer Mathurin is N.C. State’s top frontcourt threat with 11.4 points per game, joining the two-headed monster in the Wolfpack’s backcourt—Dominique Wilson and Miah Spencer—as double-figure scorers. Wilson and Spencer hurt the Blue Devils all afternoon a season ago, combining for 41 points in N.C. State’s upset victory.

“Every game is great experience for us, I’m excited to play N.C. State,” McCallie said. “They’ve got terrific outside shooters, and they’re a very, very good team, but they’re the exact team we want to play because communication is going to be a huge key.... It’s a tough game, but it’s a great game for us.

If Duke can get its offense back on track early, it may be tough for the Wolfpack to stay close, because the Blue Devil defense is also markedly better at home. Duke holds opponents to 11.5 fewer points per game and registers both more steals and blocks at Cameron Indoor Stadium. By shutting down Wilson and Spencer, a strong defensive performance against N.C. State could go a long way toward rediscovering the keys to the Blue Devils’ early-season success.

Even though the Blue Devils have been much better at creating turnovers at home, they will not come easily with Wilson and Spencer taking care of the ball-handling duties for the Wolfpack. Last season, the duo coughed up only two turnovers against Duke, and with an added year of experience, it can only get harder for the young Duke guards to force N.C. State to make bad decisions on the offensive end of the court.

“You have to be in their face, you have to be there before the catch because they are both excellent 3-point shooters and then you have to make the one-on-one stop,” McCallie said. “It’s a team defense thing.”