Duke came into Thursday night’s game with something to prove. Needless to say, the team showed that it still is one of the best in the country.
Coming off their worst performance of the season, the No. 3 Blue Devils (21-1, 7-0 in the ACC) used constant defensive pressure and smart shot selection to beat No. 18 Miami 82-58.
The theme of the night was the outstanding play in transition on both the offensive and defensive ends of the floor.
Shay Selby, Chloe Wells and Karima Christmas kept the full-court pressure on Miami (20-3, 6-2) in the first half, forcing 12 turnovers. The swarming Duke pressure was the catalyst for an early 9-0 run in which the Hurricanes were held scoreless for six straight possessions, including back-to-back stops before Miami could reach halfcourt. With the exception of two Riquna Williams free throws, the Hurricanes were held scoreless for a stretch of over five minutes in the half.
Williams was the leading scorer for the Hurricanes, accumulating 27 points in the game on just 8-for-25 shooting from the field. The rest of the team also struggled to score with efficiency due to a tenacious defensive effort from Duke, with only one other player reaching double figures for the game.
Perhaps the most impressive statistic of the night was the 58-16 points in the paint advantage for Duke. Krystal Thomas and Christmas dominated the boards, ripping down 17 rebounds combined on the night. Thomas’s biggest play came late in the first half when she blocked Shenise Johnson on a drive to the lane, setting the tone for the rest of the game.
The Blue Devils also had a 37-8 scoring advantage in bench production. Haley Peters led the effort off the bench with a team-high 15 points, and Wells added eight points as well.
Duke came into the second half with an intensity that was noticeably different than that of its opponent, scoring six transition points in the first four minutes. Over the course of the game, the Blue Devils scored around 26 points in transition, a direct result of great rebounding and smart passing, two things head coach Joanne P McCallie stressed were necessary components for the team to be successful. Freshman Richa Jackson was key in the transition game, and she scored a career-high 13 points in her first start of the season.
“As a team you have to be completely resilient, and I think it was very clear tonight that we did,” McCallie said. “We’ve got to be that 22 assists, strong rebounding team and that’s something to build off of.”
Miami started to claw back midway through the second half, shrinking its deficit to 49-40. From that point on, Duke showed it was still the class of the ACC. The Hurricanes were held to another four-minute scoring drought, and the Blue Devils took advantage, using the porous offensive production to spring an 18-3 run to close out the game.
After No. 2 Connecticut defeated the Blue Devils Monday at Gampel Pavilion, the team knew it had a lot of things to work on. Christmas, who had 14 points and 6 assists for the game, had one of her worst shooting performances of the season against the Huskies. According to Christmas, Duke’s performance against the Huskies sparked the team.
“We were embarrassed, we just wanted say, ‘Forget that game, that’s not how we play,’ and we wanted to come out there and just go at them,” Christmas said.
Peters also struggled from the field last game, but stressed that Duke wanted to make a statement against its ACC opponent.
“We got punched in the face and it was embarrassing, but now we have something to build off of,” she said. “We came into [this game wanting] to put a hard footprint on [Miami], and that’s what we did.”
The Blue Devils will be back in action Monday in Chapel Hill against rival North Carolina, who is tied for second in the ACC. While Duke has had an up-and-down couple of weeks, McCallie knows that the season is far from over.
“We’ve been through a lot, but we want to get a whole lot better,” she said.
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