Throughout the early portion of the season, Duke has had trouble starting off fast. The Blue Devils have had a mixed bag of results trying to come back. Against Kansas State, Duke had an early 10-point deficit in the first quarter but managed to pull out a 73-62 win. On the other hand, the Blue Devils found themselves with a 25-point deficit in the third quarter against powerhouse South Carolina and fell short in the end, despite cutting the lead to single digits.
In a hostile away game at the Yuengling Center against South Florida before a long-awaited break, Duke could not dig itself out of a massive first-half hole, losing 65-56. Heading into halftime, the Bulls lead 33-15 after a dominant 20 minutes. But in typical Blue Devil manner, head coach Kara Lawson and her team weren’t going to collapse.
Coming out of the half, standout guard Taina Mair had a quick steal leading to a layup by sophomore Oluchi Okananwa. Soon after, Reigan Richardson — who racked up 10 assists in the team’s last game against Wofford — hit a three. The Blue Devils weren’t going to back down, and it did so by playing its brand of basketball. It quickly forced five South Florida turnovers, almost matching the number of turnovers the Bulls had in the first half. Additionally, South Florida didn’t make a single three in the third quarter, which was what gave it the lead in the first half.
However, the Bulls held on despite only being up three points in the fourth quarter. Senior L'or Mputu kept South Florida afloat when no other players could. The Kinshasa, Congo, native scored a career-high 17 points in comparison to her 7.5 points per game average. After a controversial technical foul on Duke forward Delaney Thomas which gave four free throws to South Florida, the Blue Devils attempted to rally once again. Their 11 points off turnovers kept on creating offensive production in transition, but it was too late as the leading scorer of the game for the Bulls, Sammie Puisis, drained her third three of the day.
“We weren't prepared to play, and that's 100% on me as a coach. [I] didn’t have them ready to play and … we didn't play well enough to win," Lawson said. “Credit goes to South Florida, I thought they competed at a level worthy of getting the win and deserved the win today.”
The playstyle at the start of the game was uncharacteristic of the Blue Devils. Duke typically has a strong half-court defense, creating steals and turnovers. However, the Bulls dominated in the half court. In the first half, there was a 30% disparity in field-goal percentage between the two teams — 56% for the home team and 26% for the visitors. A part of that was also behind the arc as the two guards, Vittoria Blasigh and Puisis, made up for the team’s 75% 3-point percentage.
A significant play early in the first quarter was when Blasigh hit a step-back three forcing Lawson to call a timeout. While the Bulls were shooting well, Duke was discombobulated on offense. Lawson said her team “could never get into a rhythm and that hurt us.”
The Blue Devils didn’t have many transition opportunities because South Florida initially had little trouble with Duke’s defense, forcing the Blue Devils into a half-court offense that felt rushed and lost. Even with rotations from the bench, freshman star Toby Fournier was the only Blue Devil who had more than two points in its lowest scoring half so far in the season. Duke scored 25 bench points compared to South Florida’s five, but the Bulls’ starters controlled the game.
Even in the few transition opportunities Duke had, it wasn't able to convert and played at an inconsistent pace. A play that exemplified this was a two-on-one fast break with Oluchi Okananwa, who tried to pass it to a trailing Richardson. The pass was intercepted by the Bulls, ending up in junior Carla Brito’s hands to lay it in for a four-point swing.
Despite coming up short, Duke has bright spots to look forward to. The grit and determination shown by this team in this game and others, like against South Carolina, demonstrates its identity. The Blue Devils will fight to the end. Additionally, the effect of leadership surrounding the team is obvious.
“There's no doubt in the ACC we're going to be down double digits at half and in a game,” Lawson said. “And how do we respond? I thought their response in the third quarter was good.”
The Blue Devils will look forward to the rest of their conference slate, beginning against Boston College Jan. 2.
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