With just 30 seconds left in the second half Monday night, with 12 of her players cheering exuberantly along with the standing crowd, even head coach Joanne P. McCallie couldn’t suppress a smile. The reason? Her Blue Devils, after struggling down the stretch last week in Chestnut Hill, responded with their best defensive showing of the season against No. 18 North Carolina.
“We felt we gave the game at Boston College away,” McCallie said. “There was a different kind of focus tonight, I could tell in the locker room.”
It didn’t take long for the Blue Devils to make amends for the surprise loss to the Eagles. From the opening tip against the Tar Heels, No. 8 Duke looked like a different team than it has all year and played with a ferocious defensive intensity for the full 40 minutes. Just 25 seconds into the game, guard Keturah Jackson sprung into the passing lane to intercept a lazy ball from Tar Heel guard Italee Lucas on North Carolina’s first possession. That early defensive stroke would set the tone for what would become a signature performance. The Blue Devils began the game on a 10-0 run and never allowed the Tar Heels to come within striking distance the rest of the game, in large part due to a bevy of outstanding defensive stops.
Duke’s unrelenting full-court press and stingy man-to-man defense led to 11 Tar Heel turnovers in the first half, but it was the team-first manner in which Duke was defending that truly impressed. The Blue Devils seldom allowed an uncontested shot in the paint throughout the first half, and near-flawless defensive rotations from Duke players kept North Carolina from getting off quality shots early in the shot clock.
“Our team was talking [on defense]—we were communicating all the time,” Jackson said. “It makes it so much easier knowing I have four capable players helping me.”
Jackson played arguably the best game of her career Monday night and was the defining force on defense for the Blue Devils. She led the team with five steals and held Lucas, the Tar Heels’ leading scorer, to just six points on 2-of-8 shooting. Lucas averages 16.6 points per game.
“My mindset was to just shut them down,” Jackson said.
In the second half, Duke switched to a 2-3 zone defense almost exclusively in order to keep its players out of foul trouble. Though zone defenses are typically vulnerable to long-distance shooting, the Blue Devil guards were able to stay latched onto the Tar Heel shooters and effectively play the passing lanes. In one sequence, junior Jasmine Thomas nearly intercepted two kick-out passes from the Tar Heel forwards, then forced guard Cetera DeGraffenreid to hoist a deep 3-pointer that clunked off the backboard, a foot above the rim. North Carolina lacked any sort of punch from behind the arc, shooting 1-for-11 in the final period and 4-for-19 for the game.
Thomas’s game was a snapshot of Duke’s disciplined, hard-nosed team defense. Though Duke’s leading scorer had a horrendous 3-for-15 shooting night, Thomas finished with three steals and a block, and along with Jackson, helped anchor a perimeter defense that held the Tar Heels’ starting backcourt to a woeful 12.5 percent shooting night.
Duke kept up that intensity until the final whistle. Already up 15 with 8:15 remaining, the Blue Devils closed the game on a 17-4 run and didn’t allow the Tar Heels, the highest-scoring team in the ACC, to score from the field for eight minutes.
“The hustle plays we made on defense.... There’s no X’s and O’s to that,” McCallie said. “That’s just down to our players. That’s them getting after it.”
With the win, Duke extended its lead atop the ACC standings, and if the Blue Devils continue to play defense with such passion, another conference crown could be on the horizon.
“We’re changing, evolving,” McCallie said. “That’s what makes this time of year so special.”
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.