The Blue Devils showed they were ready to put their recent misfortune behind them by jumping out to a 20-4 lead and never looking back.
In their first game without senior point guard Chelsea Gray—whose collegiate career ended prematurely with a knee injury last Sunday—No. 3 Duke did not resemble a team that had just lost its emotional leader for the season. The Blue Devils trounced Virginia 90-55 Thursday at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Duke dominated the paint early and often, using its edge inside to control the tempo and punish the Cavaliers—the Blue Devils held a 54-16 advantage in points in the paint.
“It was a great aggressive effort,” head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “I think everybody was in attack mode. It was great to be out on the floor. After all these kids have been through, that’s the best place to be. I think it’s where we’re happiest.”
All of the Blue Devils (17-1, 4-0 in the ACC) stepped up in the win, but two stood out more than the rest—senior guard Tricia Liston and junior center Elizabeth Williams. Liston grabbed 10 first-half rebounds and used her improved all-around game to finish with 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting for her second first double-double of the season.
Williams continued her mastery of conference opponents, finishing with 17 points, seven rebounds and six blocks. Williams’ play inside set the tone for Duke’s domination of its smaller opponent—the Blue Devils blocked 13 shots and have yet to allow 60 points in conference play.
“From the start of the game, we were forcing them to shoot shots off balance and getting rebounds,” Liston said. “It was fueling our offense and transition game. We were going inside out and getting it into [Williams]. You have to either double her or triple her or let her go one-on-one, so that’s a big thing for us—starting from the inside out.”
Taking over the primary ball-handling responsibilities with Gray sidelined, sophomore Alexis Jones excelled, using her quickness to attack the sluggish Virginia (8-9, 1-3) defense and set up her teammates. The explosive Texan finished with 10 points and six assists and orchestrated Duke’s 56-percent shooting effort.
Jones sparked the Blue Devils’ 17-0 edge in fastbreak points and had several assists that made her mentor smile from the bench. Although Jones committed three turnovers, she showed she is capable of adding a new gear to Duke’s offensive machine with her speed at the point.
“It’s about pace and tempo,” McCallie said. “We have the opportunity to play the game at a quicker pace, foul line to foul line. We really pushed each other tonight to go and we’ve got the different players to do it. We’ve got to keep that going.”
Senior Richa Jackson was one of the many Blue Devils that benefited from Jones’ vision. Jackson backed up her season-high 17-point effort in Duke’s last contest with a 16-point performance on 8-of-9 shooting in her first game as a starter. The versatile guard also closed out the first half by doing her best impression of the injured Gray, finishing a layup after a timely spin move to give Duke a 47-23 lead at the break.
“I just wanted to remain focused and play with a lot of energy,” Jackson said. “Chelsea being hurt—that was really sad for me, I took it really hard. I just wanted to come in and uplift the team with whatever I could do.”
Duke’s role players also showed they were ready to embrace their increased minutes. Freshman Oderah Chidom had 11 points and nine rebounds and junior Ka’lia Johnson was one of the Blue Devils that shut down Virginia’s best offensive player, sophomore guard Faith Randolph.
Randolph came off the bench to torch the Duke for 13 quick points in the middle of the first period, but the Duke guards adjusted, holding Virginia’s streaky sixth player scoreless the rest of the way.
“That’s a credit to the team,” McCallie said. “The guards came alive. There was some movement and change going on there so we could maximize what we could do—that’s a credit to team defense.”
With Randolph limited, the Cavalier offense sputtered—Virginia’s other players were 3-of-22 from the field in the first half. Although the other Cavaliers got more shots to fall in the final period, their defense was too porous for them to make any major runs. The free-throw line was Virginia’s best defense in the contest—the Blue Devils shot just 5-of-15 from the charity stripe but were 38-of-68 from the field.
Duke will try to continue playing inspired basketball and keep its leader smiling on Sunday at Virginia Tech, and Gray—who is scheduled to undergo surgery on Friday—will continue making sure her teammates do not take anything for granted.
“It just fuels the fire, something out of your control happening like that to an All-American—that’s an unprecedented thing,” McCallie said. “We’re just going to go after our best basketball.”
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