Duke women's basketball 2018-19 player preview: Faith Suggs

Faith Suggs 

• Year: Senior 
• Height: 6-foot-1 
• Position: Guard/forward 
• Last year's stat line: 2.2 PPG, 1.6 RPG, 11.3 MPG 

Game Breakdown: Suggs has become an undeniably more versatile and efficient player over the last three years. Her field goal percentage, three-point percentage and free throw percentage have all increased since her freshman season. Suggs could always penetrate the lane, but she has also developed into a good three-point shooter and can compete with much bigger players for rebounds. Suggs’ experience and hustle lend her an advantage as a perimeter defender. She makes whoever she is guarding work twice as hard, and she hardly ever lets her opponents get to the rim. Even with Suggs’ improvement as a player, though, the dominance of guards Rebecca Greenwell and Lexie Brown — each of whom were drafted into the WNBA this spring — prevented her from ever getting big-time minutes throughout all of last season. 

Suggs’ break finally came in last year’s NCAA Tournament, when she started all three games Duke played, scoring six points against Belmont and 18th-ranked Georgia. She will look to take advantage of increased playing time in her final year of eligibility to help the team achieve yet another NCAA Tournament berth. 

Role on the team: The Flossmoor, Ill. native has emerged as a vocal leader of the team. She constantly communicates with her teammates on both ends of the floor, a real asset to head coach Joanne P. McCallie’s young squad. She will play a vital role in the development of the underclassmen players. Suggs’ ability to get to the rim will free up Duke shooters, which could make a huge impact given how potent Duke looks from behind the arc this year. However, Suggs is by no means a volume scorer for the Blue Devils — that role will most likely fall to redshirt junior Haley Gorecki. Her experience in the ACC and national tournaments will be welcome as the year progresses, though. Suggs may not pick up much of the scoring load, but the team will increasingly rely on Suggs’ veteran presence down the stretch this season. 

Projected stats: 4.0 PPG, 2.3 RPG, 14 MPG

Stay tuned to the Blue Zone for our continuing player previews with senior Mikayla Boykin tomorrow. Previous players previewed include Sofia Roma, Jayda Adams, Uchenna Nwoke, Rayah Craig, Miela Goodchild and Onome Akinbode-James.