Duke ended the calendar year on a high note, taking down Boston College in its ACC home opener 80-75 in one of its best offensive performances of the young season.
The Blue Devils had complete and utter control of the Golden Eagles. And yet, in the second half, their discipline seemed to falter. The inconsistency that has defined Duke’s season game-to-game this time reared its ugly head.
From the opening tip, it seemed as if Duke was intent on being a grinch, as it hounded the opposition defensively from buzzer to buzzer and 10 different Blue Devils scored en route to a 68-34 victory.
In their 70-45 win against the Rockets, the Blue Devils looked like their old selves again as they got back to the basics of what has made them successful: crashing the board for points in the paint, getting the whole team involved in scoring and controlling the pace of the game.
In a break from ACC play, the Blue Devils played with comfort and ease on their home court against the Rockets, with freshman forward Jadyn Donovan and senior center Kennedy Brown leading the team’s scoring effort.
In the first half, there looked to be a non-zero chance that it would be an 0-3 week for head coach Kara Lawson’s group. In the end, however, Duke demonstrated its adaptability.
After a 19-point loss to Clemson during the week, Duke had the chance to respond against a talented, tough Florida Gulf Coast ballclub. Needing a statement victory for their identity, the Blue Devils stepped up and delivered.
From the very start of the game, Duke was playing catch-up to Clemson’s narrow lead. Although the Blue Devils were favored by 13.5 by HHS ahead of tipoff, they didn’t quite look the part on the court Thursday.
Following a near-upset against No. 1 South Carolina, the Blue Devils looked like a team that could hold its own against the biggest names in women’s college basketball. But from the first whistle, Duke came out as a different team than the one that had taken the top ranked team in the country Gamecocks to the final minutes.
The Blue Devils were never going to win this matchup on the offensive end by scoring in the paint and running sets. Rather, in an environment where Duke was physically undermatched, the team shot 3-pointers and ran in transition. And for most of the game, the plan worked.
South Carolina women’s hoops might be equally as or more dominant than any other program in recent college sports memory. On Sunday afternoon, the Gamecocks showed up in Cameron Indoor Stadium to prove exactly that. The visitors outlasted the Blue Devils in the second half, escaping with a 77-61 victory.
Coming off of a victory in the ACC/SEC Challenge against Georgia, the Blue Devils welcome the South Carolina Gamecocks to Cameron Indoor Stadium Sunday afternoon, looking to upset the top-ranked team in the nation. At the halftime break, the Blue Devils trail the Gamecocks 35-29.
Coming off a road victory against Georgia Thursday night, Duke returns to Cameron Indoor Stadium Sunday afternoon to take on what might be its most formidable opponent yet: No. 1 South Carolina. The Chronicle’s womens’ basketball beat writers are here with their predictions for the marquee matchup.
The Achilles’ heel of this offense is decision making and taking care of the ball, both revealed in the victory against the Bulldogs.
In front of the home crowd at Stegeman Coliseum in Athens, Ga., the Blue Devils out-battled the Lady Bulldogs 72-65 in an overtime effort. This marks Duke’s fifth win in five matchups against Georgia all-time.
In general, this was a strong, stat-filling performance by the Blue Devils. If the team was upset after a close loss a week earlier at Stanford, it certainly didn’t show it.
Following a two-game losing streak, the Blue Devils were eager to get back in the win column with a dominant showing against N.C. Central, and dominant they were. They played with a sense of urgency and purpose, en route to a 93-45 win at Cameron Indoor Stadium Sunday afternoon.
When the Blue Devils are firing on all cylinders and when the shots are falling, the squad from Durham is capable of playing like one of the best teams in the nation. Moving forward, this game will be key in building confidence and helping a very young Duke squad grow as the season goes on.
In a thrilling matchup characterized by frequent changes in momentum, Stanford pulled through in overtime to defeat the Blue Devils 82-79.
In Duke’s first loss of the season, a 69-62 defeat at the hands of Davidson Thursday evening, its weaknesses were on full display, providing the blueprint for how to attack the Blue Devils the rest of the season.
