Lexie Brown
The
Thursday vs. Notre Dame: 22 points on 8-of-19 shooting, 4-of-9 3-point shooting, four assists, two rebounds and two steals
Sunday vs. Wake Forest: 28 points on 9-of-15 shooting, 4-of-6 from beyond the arc, four rebounds, three assists and three steals
The good: With star
But Brown was certainly up to the task, making 8-of-15 3-point attempts and going a perfect 8-of-8 from the charity stripe to lift Duke’s offense. Before another late offensive letdown on the road, the 5-foot-9 guard put the Blue Devils in a good position to upset the No. 8 Fighting Irish, as they jumped out to a 24-17 first quarter lead and wound up losing by just four points.
With a hot first half, Brown also propelled Duke to a dominant victory against Wake Forest. Brown’s 16 first-half points helped spark a 21-2 second quarter run that put the game away, capped by a buzzer-beating layup to close the half. Brown also brought it on the defensive end, anchoring the ACC’s top scoring defense with five steals during the two games.
The bad: Despite her strong scoring effort, Brown was the chief contributor to the Blue Devils’ recurring road turnover woes. Part of her five turnovers Thursday could be attributed to the defensive pressure from veteran point guard Lindsay Allen, but Brown’s miscues certainly helped the Fighting Irish push past Duke—the Blue Devils coughed up the ball 11 times in the decisive second half.
“They did throw a lot of defenders at me. I personally probably went a little too fast at times when I had Lindsay on me,” Brown said after the game. “She did a good job. She was literally under me.”
Like the rest of Duke’s offense, Brown failed to execute in the face of pressure in crunch time, missing a layup and all three of her 3-point attempts and and turning the ball over twice in the final eight minutes.
The bottom line: Despite many distractions heading into the season, Brown has refocused the Blue Devils on eventually making waves in the NCAA tournament. Third in the ACC in scoring and steals, the Suwanee, Ga., native has put herself in the conversation for the Wooden Award with a balanced, efficient game.
Under Brown’s watch, the Blue Devils now have an elite
Whether that can translate to the road will determine Duke’s fate—the Blue Devils, plagued by poor offensive execution, haven’t beaten a ranked team on the road in more than two years.
Honorable mention: Lost in Brown’s dominance has been the quietly efficient game of
The freshman has made some youthful mistakes, posting
“[Odom] is so capable and can do so many things. I’m proud of her for her double-double and her aggression,” McCallie said Sunday. “She is just getting better and better. She has seen everything at this point and is settling in and doing great things.”
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Managing Editor 2018-19, 2019-2020 Features & Investigations Editor
A member of the class of 2020 hailing from San Mateo, Calif., Ben is The Chronicle's Towerview Editor and Investigations Editor. Outside of the Chronicle, he is a public policy major working towards a journalism certificate, has interned at the Tampa Bay Times and NBC News and frequents Pitchforks.