Following a disappointing 61-45 loss at Cameron Indoor Stadium to No. 3 Connecticut, the Blue Devils are looking to get back in the wins column playing Wake Forest at 7 p.m. tonight.
Although No. 5 Duke (17-3, 8-0 in the ACC) held the Huskies to 61 points, their lowest point total of the season, the Blue Devils will need a stronger offense and more rapid ball movement to prevail in their return to conference play.
“We need to find each other and run in transition ourselves, which is something we did not do last game,” head coach Joanne P. McCallie said.
The team has shown steady improvement, only having fallen to the best in the country, with all three losses coming against top-10 ranked opponents.
“I think every game we’ve gotten better, we’ve learned from each other,” McCallie said. “Again this last game was very disappointing to us because we did not do some of the things we had practiced and set out to do.”
Chelsea Gray and Elizabeth Williams will play a critical role in taking the ball from guard to post but other members of the team will need to step up to build on the group performance.
“We’re really growing as a team,” McCallie said. “We have a lot of different people that can make an impact. We’ve seen a lot of film, we’re excited to play. I hope people come out and support the team.”
Wake Forest (12-9, 2-6) comes to Duke following two consecutive conference losses to North Carolina and Miami.
“It’s been a tough stretch,” Demon Deacon head coach Mike Petersen said. “We had a five-point lead against North Carolina, we couldn’t quite close the deal. We were in a tie game with [Georgia Tech] with three minutes left on the road but we can’t quite close the deal. We just need to make a shot or two more or a rebound or two more and we’ll be fine.”
The Wake Forest offense has proven to be strong this year, averaging 71.3 points per game, 8.1 more than their opponents average.
Guard Latevia Boykin leads the squad in points during conference games and will head off a strong effort against the Blue Devils. Boykin averages 15.3 points per conference game and 11.3 overall, and scored 25 when the Demon Deacons fell to Duke 76-58 earlier in the season. She is a part of a deep rotation of nine players that regularly receive minutes for the Wake Forest.
“We’re a team with pretty good depth—we distribute the scoring around a little bit,” Petersen said.
Key to the Demon Deacons pulling off an upset against Duke will be containing its strong offensive attack, led by Tricia Liston and Chelsea Gray who have combined for 49 3-pointers on the season. Wake Forest nearly pulled off an upset against No. 23 North Carolina last week, keeping the Tar Heels to just three 3-pointers in the 75-71 nail-biter.
“We’re going to try to force turnovers and locate their shooters and make sure they take competitive shots,” Petersen said.
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