When traveling to an away game, teams do not usually expect an exceedingly warm reception. The Blue Devils, however, received just that, as they kick off their regular season in Houston—the hometown of junior Karima Christmas.
Upon arriving in Houston Thursday evening, the team experienced a taste of Texan hospitality, visiting the Christmas home and sharing a meal with her family. However, after this brief period of repose, the Blue Devils will have to get down to business as they commence regular season play.
No. 6 Duke will face Houston Baptist University Friday at 8:30 p.m. and will take on No. 16 Texas A&M Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m.
“This will be a great opportunity to bring Karima home and spend some time with her family,” head coach Joanne P. McCallie said.
Christmas, an explosive rebounder and defender, said that playing in Texas will be like reliving her high school days. A slew of the players on both opposing squads were previously her opponents in high school and AAU contests.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun because we spent the majority of our high school careers playing against each other and we got to know each other on a personal level,” Christmas said. “It will be fun to see familiar faces and to play against them again.”
If the Blue Devils maintain the trend of domination that they showed in their exhibition games, Christmas and her teammates will fare well against the Texan teams. Duke breezed past Wingate 99-31 and Alaska Anchorage 100-32 last week.
McCallie was pleased by the performances she saw at the exhibition games and anticipates dynamic play from her team this season.
“I am excited. Excited about our potential. Excited about playing harder. Excited about getting better, particularly defensively,” McCallie said. “I loved our balance in scoring. It was just a good start. A good start to get going and see our possibilities.”
That being said, McCallie and her staff noted numerous areas that she would like the team to improve on during the regular season, emphasizing transition defense, passing and taking care of the ball.
It will be vital for the Blue Devils to remedy these weaknesses, as they face more exacting challenges from both Houston Baptist and Texas A&M.
“The key is just to focus on playing off each other, playing aggressively and dictating the physicality of both games,” McCallie said. “It will be a great test for us.”
Duke is approaching the game against the Aggies with a particular hunger. The last time the two teams met, Texas A&M knocked the Blue Devils out of the Sweet 16 of the 2008 NCAA Tournament. This time around, however, Duke is looking to reverse the outcome.
“Of course it’s in the back of our minds, because that was a game we really wanted. But in the same sense, we aren’t the same team and they aren’t the same team,” Christmas said. “It’s just going to be that mindset of who wants it more.”
McCallie said that she intentionally scheduled the Texas A&M game to challenge her team.
“You go after teams that have done good things and they are an excellent program,” McCallie said. “[But] it’s more about us than the opponent. We are really trying to put together 40 minutes of what we do in terms of aggressive defense, running, and rebounding.”
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