Duke women's basketball hoping to break out of offensive funk Thursday against No. 17 Virginia Tech

Efficient offense helped the Blue Devils jump out to a 14-1 start this year, erase last year's disappointment after missing the NCAA tournament and climb into the top 15 nationally despite starting 2016-17 unranked.

But after suffering two disappointing road losses in the last two weeks, it feels like Duke's season is now hanging in the balance entering the heart of the ACC schedule. 

The No. 15 Blue Devils will look to bounce back from a 55-52 loss at then-No. 23 N.C. State Thursday at 7 p.m. when they host No. 17 Virginia Tech at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Although Duke was run out of the building at then-No. 6 Florida State Jan. 8, it bounced back Jan. 12 70-58 against North Carolina before its offense vanished again on the road. 

But despite going 2-of-22 from long range in their two recent losses, the Blue Devils can take solace in the fact that they only have one marquee road game left at No. 6 Notre Dame. Duke has posted a perfect 10-0 record at home, including three top-20 wins, and has a chance to bolster its postseason resume by keeping that streak going against the Hokies Thursday and when it hosts No. 14 Miami later in the season. 

“It’s always great to play in Cameron,” Blue Devil head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “But most importantly, we are excited about getting better, taking a hard look at things we want to change from last game, making improvements, and playing better off each other. I was very disturbed by our assist total against State more than anything else. We missed each other in key opportunities.”

Duke (15-3, 3-2 in the ACC) actually had 10 assists on 20 field goals against the Wolfpack, more than twice as many as it did when it put up just four at Florida State. 

Although the Blue Devils were able to beat North Carolina in between the two losses, finding a better offensive rhythm moving forward will likely mean freeing up star guards Lexie Brown and Rebecca Greenwell. Duke's two leading scorers have seen their numbers plummet in the last two weeks, with both players combining to shoot 27.0 percent from the field in the last three games, including 4-of-31 from 3-point range.  

Opposing defenses have keyed on the Blue Devils' primary scorers, leading to more disjointed possessions and tough shots late in the shot clock. 

The Hokies make up for their defensive struggles with an attacking offense led by Chanette Hicks, who relies on drives to the basket to post 17.2 points per contest. Forwards Regan Magarity and Sidney Cook anchor the paint for Virginia Tech, combining for nearly 30 points and 20 rebounds per game in the post to pose a new challenge to Duke's aggressive matchup zone defense. 

“They’re one of the best driving teams I’ve seen all season relative to attacking off the bounce,” McCallie said.”They’re well-coached and benefitting from that new excitement and they’re doing a great job….Putting a body on them [Magarity and Cook], being physical and boxing them out will be enormously important...They’re pretty much shooting on the first three passes of the possession using a lot of dribbling and penetration, so our defense is going to have to be rock solid.“

When the Blue Devils have been at their best this year, they have used their defense to create easy offensive opportunities early in games. After allowing a 24-point first quarter in its last game, Duke is hoping success from the beginning of the contest on one end will translate to more efficient offense on the other end. 

“We were not alert,” McCallie said. “Defensively, you don’t want a team to get momentum. We didn’t play our defense, we did not come out of the blocks the way we needed to. That’s something you need to do every game wherever you play.”

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