With a marquee matchup looming Sunday against No. 2 Notre Dame, the Blue Devils have some unfinished business to take care of first.
No. 3 Duke will travel to Coral Gables, Fla. to take on Miami Thursday night at 7 p.m. in the BankUnited Center. Last year, the then-No. 5 Blue Devils suffered a 69-65 upset at the hands of the Hurricanes.
“We lost to Miami down there last year,” head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “We did not perform well and we were outhustled. It was a very poor game for us. This is an opportunity to redo that a bit, and that’s exactly where our focus is.”
This year’s Miami team has a much different look than the one that defeated Duke last season. Gone are the familiar faces of Stefanie Yderstrom and Pepper Wilson, who each scored 16 points in the upset. In their places are freshman Adreinne Motley and Jessica Thomas, who have both logged significant minutes as newcomers.
Motley and Thomas help to lead a balanced Hurricanes squad that likes to pressure the opposing offense and allows only 62 points per game. The Blue Devils (20-1, 7-0 in the ACC) will have to play smart and take care of the ball against Miami (11-9, 3-4), who ranks third in the ACC—four spots ahead of Duke—in turnover margin.
“When they press us, we want to exploit that,” McCallie said. “We’ll look to attack their press and convert on broken plays. Offensively, it’s a broken-play kind of game because of the way they play and the way they press. It’s important that we’re smart and that we pass the ball well, [that we] do not over-dribble and attack as a team.”
Both teams feature stingy defenses that create a lot of turnovers, but there is a sharp contrast between the high-octane Duke offense and the Hurricanes’ deliberate attack. The Blue Devils rank ninth in the nation by scoring 84.8 points per game and boast three players—Tricia Liston, Elizabeth Williams, and Alexis Jones—that would rank as Miami's leading scorer. The Hurricanes average just 69.3 points per game and prefer to slow the game down, but Duke will look to get out in transition and push the pace.
“I think transition points are very important to what we do and getting those and keeping the tempo of the game,” McCallie said. “We just do better when we run and when we set the pace and really dictate the tempo.”
Coming off of a victory against Pittsburgh in which they racked up 111 points, the Blue Devils appear to have their offense running smoothly. As a team, Duke is shooting 51.0 percent from the field, and key contributors Tricia Liston and Elizabeth Williams seem to have really found their groove during conference play. Williams—who is averaging 13.8 points and 8.6 rebounds per game in against ACC opponents while leading the conference in blocked shots—is set up for a big night against a Miami team that lacks a true center and is last in the ACC in defensive rebounding.
“We’ll definitely look for Elizabeth, look [to play] from the inside out,” McCallie said. “Whether you have a mismatch or not, you have to attack from the inside out. That’s a healthy way to play.”
Miami is a rare opponent that may be able to match the Blue Devils’ depth. The Hurricanes have eight players who play more than 19 minutes per game, with all five of their starters averaging between 8.4 and 12.5 points. Duke usually has a huge advantage in bench play, as Chloe Wells, Ka’lia Johnson and Richa Jackson—now a member of the starting lineup with Chelsea Gray out for the season—provide experience and quality minutes that most teams cannot match.
With redshirt freshman Amber Henson—who has undergone six surgeries since coming to Duke in 2012—finally getting healthy, the Blue Devils have yet another weapon at their disposal. Henson logged 16 minutes in Duke’s rout of Pittsburgh and scored a career-high 13 points, showcasing the talent that made her a top recruit coming out of high school.
“Amber is very dangerous offensively because she can shoot the ball from great distances but she can also post up and play inside-out,” McCallie said. “I think her footwork and defensive ability is really taking off as well. We’re very excited about that.”
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