Virginia entered its Wednesday matchup against Duke averaging 78 points per game. It left Cameron Indoor Stadium having scored just 56.
The Blue Devils put up arguably their best defensive performance of the season in their 70-56 ACC opener win against the Cavaliers. It seemed like Duke was making everything difficult for the Cavaliers, even getting the ball past halfcourt or finishing near the rim when isolating their centers.
“We like to think we play the physical brand too—that we guard, that we rebound well,” head coach Kara Lawson said after the game. “We just challenged our group to do that. I felt like if we could do that, that we could put ourselves in the position to win the game.”
The first part of what made Duke so successful defensively was its height advantage, particularly with junior center Kennedy Brown. By disrupting Virginia’s passing lanes, the Cavaliers were forced to use back cuts or drive to the basket to get on the board, but both of these efforts were difficult against the 6-foot-6 Brown, who finished the game with five blocks.
“[Brown] gives us an anchor down low,” Lawson said. “It’s critical because she gives us a player that, on the defensive end … can protect the rim at 6-foot-6, but she’s very, very smart. She’s one of our most intelligent players, so defensively, she’s like a quarterback out there a lot; she’s telling coverages, talking to them, making the right help decisions. Some of her blocks are that she’s helping over and covering for someone that got beat versus blocking the shot of her own player.”
Duke’s effective half- and full-court presses were key contributors to its ability to dictate the pace of the game. The Cavaliers would often use up a majority of the 30-second shot clock trying to get the ball past halfcourt, at one point needing 18 seconds to get their offense set up. Virginia nearly committed several shot clock violations, which contributed to a slew of missed threes as it made last-ditch efforts to avoid the turnover.
And when the top of the press—often led by senior guard Celeste Taylor, whose speed and competitiveness earned her four steals—was not air-tight, Brown was also able to help the defense recover from down low.
This advantage also translated to the offensive end; Virginia’s focus on double-teaming Brown helped open up the perimeter for Duke, allowing Brown to use her ability as a pinch post passer to find open shooters around the arc.
“Offensively, you know, we play through her a lot,” Lawson said of Brown after the game. “You can see that she’s able to get us points in the paint, and she can make outside shots too.”
The game had the potential to be an exciting defensive matchup, with Duke entering the game holding opponents to just 32% shooting, Virginia at 33%. But the Cavaliers were whistled for 26 fouls in the 40 minutes of play, with Duke following at 20, sending two key Cavaliers to the bench during the height of play and interrupting any chance Virginia had at building enough momentum to cut away at Duke’s building lead.
Mir McLean entered Wednesday night leading Virginia in points, rebounds and steals, but her playing time was limited to only 16 minutes against Duke due to foul trouble. The junior guard fouled out early in the fourth quarter, followed by senior forward Camryn Taylor moments later. McLean sat out the entire second quarter after earning two fouls in the first, and upon returning in the third quarter, she caused trouble for the Blue Devils at the top of Virginia’s press, poking at Duke’s double-digit lead with a few easy steals and layups.
McLean finished with only 10 points, but given the disruption in Duke’s momentum she caused in the second half, it would have been interesting to see how Duke’s defense would have adjusted in the fourth quarter to prevent her from closing out the game.
As for the other half of Duke’s win—a game can’t be won without scoring, after all—Brown and Celeste Taylor worked together to make the transition offensive come together smoothly and help Duke capitalize off of quick stops. The veteran guard often finished on fast layups as she has throughout the season and found Brown in the paint off of screen-and-rolls when the pressure was on her from Virginia.
“I think it’d be really hard in our league to find a better all-around guard than [Taylor],” Lawson said. “She knows every position defensively, she knows every position offensively; she can guard, she can get steals, she can get blocks; she plays with a great motor.”
Earlier in the season, some finicky wins against nonconference teams like Toledo brought into question whether a solid defense was enough for Duke to stay on top in big games, particularly in the ACC. Wednesday, Duke showed that it can be.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.
Leah Boyd is a Pratt senior and a social chair of The Chronicle's 118th volume. She was previously editor-in-chief for Volume 117.