Most teams would kill to start their year off with a double-digit win on the road against a top-10 opponent.
But fresh off a 12-point victory against then-No. 9 California last weekend, the Blue Devils brought home a number of improvements they had to make. No. 2 Duke will see if it can take steps forward as a team when it hosts USC Upstate Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in the team's home-opener at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
"It was a good first win," senior forward Haley Peters said. "It's tough to go on the road to an arena like that and win. But we're not really happy with how we executed on the offensive end. On both sides of the ball we could be a lot better."
Although the Blue Devils were able to score a win on the road against a top-10 opponent, head coach Joanne P. McCallie said there were plenty of improvements the team sought to make in practice this week.
“It was a great game for us because we have takeaways—and a lot of them,” McCallie said. “When you think about our transition defense; when you think about us not stopping a run; when you think about us not getting paint points established and getting to the free throw line more, there was so much there that we can pull from Cal and apply down the road.”
Playing in her first game since dislocating her kneecap last February, senior point guard Chelsea Gray carried the Blue Devils (1-0) as she played in front of her family and childhood friends in California. Gray scored 22 points and dished out five assists in a game where Duke struggled to convert on opportunities in the post.
For Gray, some of Duke's biggest issues in its 70-58 victory came on the defensive end of the floor.
“We definitely have to work on our defensive presence and getting consecutive stops,” Gray said. “I don’t think we were satisfied. We had a defensive goal and we didn’t hold them to that goal. There are things we could have done a lot better.”
For USC Upstate (2-0), junior guard Sharmayne Edwards and sophomore center Brittany Starling have formed a strong outside-inside partnership and have spearheaded the offense. Defensively, it will rely on junior forward Shelby Hicks to be a presence inside the paint and compete with the a more physical Duke squad.
"They're a team that scores a lot of points," Peters said. "They're quick. They like to attack the paint and they shoot a lot of threes. It'll be a good game for us to work on— shutting down penetrators as well as three point shot contesting."
If the game is anything like the last time these two teams met in December 2011 when Duke routed the Spartans 93-35, then the home crowd could be in for a treat. Junior forward Elizabeth Williams had a monster game that afternoon with a game-high 22 points on perfect 10-of-10 shooting, nine rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block. Williams however has been slow out of the blocks this season.
McCallie believes that it is only a matter of time before Williams is back to her best. Duke's junior center struggled offensively in the team's season-opening win, managing just five points on 2-of-10 from the floor.
“I love the aggressiveness of Elizabeth,” McCallie said. “The bottom line is that you’ve got to keep going after it. Obviously, Elizabeth draws great competition and great defenders. So one game is one game, learn your lessons and move on.”
The Blue Devils have won 122 straight games against unranked opponents at Cameron Indoor Stadium and will be looking to extend that tally by two with a victory against the Spartans Thursday and SEC foe Alabama Sunday.
McCallie said that with a difficult slate of nonconference opponents coming to Duke's home court this season, there will be no easy games going forward.
“We don’t want any,” McCallie said. “Great schedule leads to great challenges. We could have [those easy games] but they’re just not going to prepare us for what we need.”
Daniel Carp contributed in reporting.
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