After Friday night’s game against the Blue Devils, Florida State head coach Sue Semrau only needed three words to describe her team’s performance.
“We got hammered,” she said.
To anybody in attendance at Cameron Indoor Stadium, the reason for Semrau’s curt postgame conference was obvious. The No. 7 Blue Devils (18-3, 6-0 in the ACC) handed No. 13 Florida State (18-4, 4-2) its worst loss of the season, a 73-43 rout to continue Duke’s conference winning streak.
The final score belied just how dominant the Blue Devils’ defense actually was. In the first 10:34 of the game, the Seminoles were limited to only one field goal, part of a 20-2 Duke run.
To put that into perspective, within the next minute, Florida State more than tripled its point total. Duke completed the half with an imposing 30-13 lead.
“We worked very hard, and we focused a lot on defense,” junior guard Jasmine Thomas said. “When it comes down to it, defense is what is going to win us these games–how well we can shut down these teams and hold them to low scores.”
Florida State entered the contest as the 20th-ranked scoring offense in the country, averaging 75.9 points per game, but was held to its lowest point total this season. For a team that usually shoots 45.5 percent from the field, the Seminoles could only manage 29.6 percent against Duke. In addition, the Blue Devils generated 16 steals, five blocks, and outrebounded Florida State by a 51-30 margin.
However, what was most impressive about the Blue Devil defense was the intensity with which they used their full-court press to generate turnovers. Duke was relentless, frustrating Florida State guards into making poor passes and giving the ball away. Indeed, the Seminoles’ starting guards–seniors Angel Gray and Alysha Harvin–combined for 14 turnovers.
“In the last few games, our press wasn’t doing what we wanted it to do,” Thomas said. “Today, we got some steals out of it. I think our press was really good tonight. “
Offensively, Duke’s performance still showed room for improvement. Despite an impressive 73-point outing, the only player with a noteworthy performance was Thomas. She had a terrific game, scoring 23 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field.
“Jasmine is a very dangerous player,” head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “She is truly special in that way–extremely competitive, and very focused.”
Unfortunately, Thomas did not receive much help from her supporting cast on the offensive end of the court. The rest of Duke’s squad shot under 35 percent from the field, including an 0-of-11 performance from beyond the arc. This poor team shooting has plagued the Blue Devils in all of their losses, including against No. 1 Connecticut and No. 2 Stanford earlier in the season.
As such, if the Blue Devils were hard-pressed to find one thing wrong with their game against Florida State, it might be that they still don’t have the offensive depth that characterizes some of the nation’s other elite programs.
Nevertheless, on the heels of such a dominant defensive effort, the offense Thomas produced was enough to give Duke the easy victory.
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