For the young Blue Devils, the way they respond to adversity will be of utmost importance as they start conference play.
In its first game after a lopsided 86-50 loss at unranked Syracuse Sunday that resulted in a six-spot drop in the AP poll, No. 18 Duke hosts Wake Forest Thursday at 7 p.m. at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Like the Blue Devils, the Demon Deacons also suffered a double-digit loss to start ACC play—a 64-47 defeat at the hands of N.C. State.
“It’s who you are after you fail,” Duke head coach Joanne P. McCallie said Tuesday on her radio show. “It’s what you make of it—it’s how you fight, it’s what you learn.”
McCallie said the Blue Devils (11-4, 0-1 in the ACC) spent much of Tuesday's practice working against high-pressure defense, Duke's Achilles' heel at the Carrier Dome. The Orange forced the Blue Devils into 32 turnovers—the most ever in McCallie's tenure—and turned them into 27 points.
Using 5-on-6 situations and other drills, Duke has tried to hone in on ball security heading into a matchup against another guard-dominant team. The mistake-prone effort Sunday raised the Blue Devils' turnover problems to a new high—they are now averaging 18.9 turnovers per contest.
Putting such a big emphasis on breaking down pressure defense is wise—after watching the performance against Syracuse, it only makes sense for opponents to throw a version of the Orange's 2-2-1 press at Duke.
“I really hope they press the heck out of us—I want to be going against a press,” McCallie said. “As a competitor, you want to go back at it.”
Duke will rely on stars Rebecca Greenwell and Azurá Stevens to lead the way for an inexperienced squad as it looks to find itself at the beginning of the ACC schedule. But they will not be alone, as graduate student and team captain Amber Henson returned to the Blue Devil bench Sunday after taking an unspecified leave of absence beginning Nov. 22.
Greenwell will need to bounce back from a poor shooting performance against the Orange. The Owensboro, Ky., native made Duke's only two 3-pointers of the afternoon, but finished 3-of-12 from the field and committed three turnovers. In a game decided largely by the teams’ backcourt play, Greenwell was not able to settle down her teammates after an erratic start.
Another member of the Blue Devil backcourt—freshman Haley Gorecki—will not be available Thursday. Gorecki was diagnosed with a right hip injury Monday and is expected to be sidelined for the foreseeable future.
Wake Forest (9-5, 0-1) is paced by guards Amber Campbell and Ariel Stephenson, who combine to score 25.0 points per game respectively. Senior floor general Ataijah Taylor comes off the bench for the Demon Deacons as a key distributor, averaging 3.6 assists per game. Junior Milan Quinn is averaging nearly a double-double this season in the frontcourt, scoring 9.9 points and grabbing 9.1 rebounds per game.
Quinn will present yet another tough challenge for Stevens, who has already had to matchup against the likes of SEC stars A’Ja Wilson of South Carolina and Evelyn Akhator of Kentucky. Stevens has taken over games against lesser opponents, but has been limited against stiffer competition.
The 6-foot-6 sophomore put up 12 points and 12 rebounds against Syracuse, but it was tough going for the Raleigh native for much of the afternoon. Although she reached double-figures for the 29th straight game, Stevens could not stop the bleeding for the Blue Devils as the Orange built an insurmountable lead.
Duke was able to trim the deficit to single-digits multiple times, but each time a series of defensive or mental lapses plagued allowed the Orange to pull away. In the ACC, the Duke cannot afford to take its collective foot off of the gas pedal in any game, which it learned in its costly defeat last week.
With another stiff road contest at Louisville waiting in the wings Sunday, the Blue Devils must come out focused and aggressive Thursday.
“I love to see fight, and I love to see grit, I always look for players that exhibit those qualities,” McCallie said.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.