CLEMSON, S.C. - When a frustrated and teary-eyed team of players moved quickly toward their locker room following an 18-point loss at Littlejohn Coliseum Saturday, the 75 points in No. 3 Duke's scoring column belied the ineffectiveness of the Blue Devils' offense.
Playing against an upstart Clemson Tigers team (5-2, 1-0 in the ACC), the Blue Devils (9-1, 0-1) never found their rhythm on offense, despite putting up a point total that surpassed that of three of their victories. Little credit was given to the unheralded Tigers entering Saturday's ACC opener, but signs of a potentially stifling defense were evident in their first six games this season. During those contests, Clemson held all but two of its opponents to less than 60 points.
On Saturday, Clemson built off three straight victories, during which its opponents averaged a paltry 53 points, as it bewildered heavily favored Duke 93-75 by mixing in full-court pressure to accompany a bullying attack.
"Our kids, for a while now, we've hung our hats on the defensive end," Clemson coach Jim Davis said. "I think our young ladies give a tremendous effort. They realize the importance of defending. We've got the athleticism to really create some problems for other people."
The problems were immediate and crippling for the Blue Devils, who connected on only 36.5 percent of their field-goal attempts.
From the opening tip, it was clear the underdog Tigers intended on disrupting Duke's offensive flow by making the game a physical slugfest.
On Duke's second possession of the game, senior Georgia Schweitzer hit the deck hard and left the game holding her head after being hammered by a Tigers defender on a fast break. Schweitzer would return and other Blue Devils would later hobble to the sideline, but Schweitzer made a minimal impact in her first chance to prove to the conference she can repeat as ACC player of the year.
"They did a great job. I give most of the credit to Clemson," Schweitzer said. "They played very physical with us. Things just didn't come easy for us."
Duke stayed close until the wheels began to spin off the offense midway through the first half. Trailing by four after a three-point play by Lakeia Stokes, Duke turned the ball over and then, on each of its next two possessions, forced up a bad shot when the shot clock dwindled down to a couple seconds.
When they again regained control of the ball, the Blue Devils dropped it out of bounds before Michele Matyasovsky finally ended the drought with a three-pointer to close the deficit to six points. Fittingly, Matyasovsky's three on a disjointed possession came as a last-ditch effort with only three ticks left to shoot.
"I could see in warm-ups how focused they were and I knew we were going to be in for a battle," said Duke coach Gail Goestenkors, who once watched as it took her team 15 seconds to advance the ball past halfcourt. "So that's all I can say. I give them a great deal of credit."
Clemson ate up the inside with 6-foot-4 center Erin Batth, who created havoc in the post with three blocked shots in addition to chipping in a double-double on offense. With Batth owning the middle, Clemson's quicker players rotated along the perimeter and clogged the lane to prevent the Blue Devils from throwing it down low or driving inside. Duke, which normally lights it up from long range, had no answer as Matyasovsky's three-pointer was the team's only one of the first half.
"Again, I think it's a lack of focus and toughness," Goestenkors said. "We've gone against pressure before. Usually we've got great ball-handlers on the team and usually do a good job; we usually end up scoring off the press and make people pay for it. Today, we were a little more tentative."
In a game where most of the time was spent at the free-throw line, the Blue Devils relied upon 23-for-26 shooting from the charity stripe to reach their final total of 75 points. Although that total only fell three short of the team's season average, things were clearly not right with Duke's offense Saturday.
"Duke is a very, very good basketball team; they're very deserving of their national ranking" Davis said. "They didn't play their A-game today, but I'd like to think we had something to do with that."
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