Every week throughout the basketball season, The Blue Zone will name the highest-performing Blue Devil the Duke basketball Player of the Week.
Tricia Liston
Statline—Sunday vs. Alabama: 20 points, 7-of-14 shooting, three rebounds, three assists, three steals in 27 minutes.
Thursday vs. Vanderbilt: 18 points, 6-of-9 shooting, four rebounds, one steal in 29 minutes
The good: Liston is off to a great start this season, giving Duke a huge advantage offensively. She leads the team in scoring with 18.3 points per game this season, but is doing most of her work from behind the arc, where she is shooting 53.8 percent thus far. Liston’s play shows us one of the reasons why the Blue Devils have a chance to make a special run this season, especially when fellow guard Chelsea Gray fully recovers from last year’s knee injury.
The bad: Liston has had six turnovers over the last two games, something that she, Gray and guard Alexis Jones will have to cut down on heading into ACC play. Liston also needs to remain a balanced player—in the matchup against Vanderbilt all of her points came off 3-point shots.
The bottom line: Liston's play continues to improve, even as Duke's schedule strengthens. Look for her to continue to lead this team in scoring and be the difference-maker in big games, such as the upcoming Dec. 17 bout against Connecticut. If she can continue to knock down 3-point shots at a clip better than 50 percent, the Blue Devils' national championship goal suddenly gets much closer.
Honorable mention: Elizabeth Williams scored 13 points in each of this week’s matchups, giving Duke points in the paint to supplement the scoring from its guards. Williams, along with forward Haley Peters, gives the Blue Devils a much needed presence in the paint and forces defenses to focus on the frontcourt and the backcourt. Look for Williams to be the difference-maker in a number of games this season, when defenders lock down the outside shooting of Jones, Gray and Liston.
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