The Blue Devils have faced few bumps in the road en route to a 5-0 record with an average margin of victory of 32.4 points. With three consecutive games against ranked opponents in the next eight days, expect Duke’s young squad to face its fair share of challenges.
No. 8 Duke travels to College Station, Texas, to take on No. 7 Texas A&M Sunday at 1 p.m. at Reed Arena. The matchup will be the Blue Devils' first of the season against a ranked opponent and will pit the young Duke squad against a level of competition it has yet to face this season.
“Kids dream of games where they’re going to be challenged in front of a loud, hostile crowd,” Duke head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “It builds character and it’s a great experience to have.”
With so much uncertainty surrounding an inexperienced roster with four new starters entering a hostile road environment, the Blue Devils' biggest question mark is actually the health of their only returning starter, senior Elizabeth Williams. Duke (5-0) was forced to play a large portion of the second half of Friday's victory against Stony Brook without the All-American center, who sustained an ankle sprain early in the second half. McCallie called Williams—averaging 14.0 points and 9.8 rebounds per contest—a “game-time decision” for Sunday’s game.
Despite the persisting questions surrounding the team, the Blue Devils have shown many positives through their first five games and are eager to finally get answers to these questions with a contest against a ranked opponent.
“We’re excited to do some of the things we’ve been working on that we’ve done at times, but not always done, such as execution, patience, screening and great defensive rebounding,” McCallie said.
Duke has dominated its early-season opponents thanks in large part to an enormous size advantage in the frontcourt. The Blue Devils lead the nation with a rebounding margin of 26.6 boards per game.
Along with its superior size, Duke has benefited from strong guard play. Senior point guard Ka’lia Johnson—who recorded the seventh triple-double in school history Nov. 20 against Old Dominion—has averaged 5.2 assists per game, which ranks in the top five in the ACC. Redshirt freshman guard Rebecca Greenwell has notched double-figures in all five contests this season and complements Johnson well in the starting lineup with her proficient shooting from beyond the arc
But by building big leads in the first 10 minutes of the first half, the Blue Devils have not been forced to sustain their strong play for the entire 40 minutes.
“We’ve had slippage during games: lack of focus, lack of concentration, lack of defending,” McCallie said. “But this kind of environment helps you get focused and prevents you from losing focus throughout the game.”
The Aggies (6-0) enter Sunday’s contest coming off a 66-point rout of McNeese State, the third-largest victory in school history. Junior guard Courtney Walker leads Texas A&M with 16.8 points per game and was recently named to the Wooden Award watch list.
The undefeated Aggies, bolstered by one of the best home-court advantages in the nation, also boast an experienced roster that could provide an edge in Sunday's tilt. Coming off a run to the Elite Eight a year ago, Texas A&M features a veteran starting lineup with only one underclassman.
There is no question that the Big 12 opponent will be a stiff test for a Blue Devils squad that is still trying to figure out what they really are.
“When you play an excellent opponent, you have to be consistent,” McCallie said. “Every possession you have to be on your game and so it will be an excellent experience for us.”
With two more ranked opponents on the schedule this week—No. 15 Nebraska and top-ranked South Carolina—Duke finally has the chance to garner the respect it believes it deserves.
“I think this is an elite team and we have a really good chemistry about the team,” McCallie said. “Certainly, there are many things we want to improve, but we’re just pretty good about staying in our own element.… We can’t control what anyone thinks or perceives, so we just kind of do what we do.”
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