On Thursday night in Cameron Indoor Stadium, Cal’s bright yellow uniforms were a jarring contrast next to Duke’s cool blue-and-white. Head coach Kara Lawson and the Blue Devil coaching staff were dressed in purple for the “We Back Pat” game, a week to honor Pat Summitt, longtime head coach of Tennessee’s women’s basketball team — and Lawson’s coach during her playing career there.
It was supposed to be more of a nail-biter — two top-20 teams competing against each other for the first time since 2013. But No. 16 Duke completely shut down No. 18 Cal, coming away with a 72-38 victory in a game that was characterized by the Blue Devils’ methodical defense — and even reminded Lawson of her days at Tennessee.
“I don’t know how many people here used to watch us back at Tennessee, but we used to get after it defensively,” Lawson said postgame, “I don’t say that very often, that they remind me of our teams, but man, defensively … that looked a lot like Coach Summitt’s teams at Tennessee, the way they attacked and disrupted.”
The Blue Devils certainly attacked. Duke forced a whopping 31 turnovers, taking advantage of its possessions with 32 points off of turnovers. To the crowd’s wild excitement, the Blue Devils often snatched the ball away from the Bears, going for 11 fast-break points and 12 steals in total. Junior guard Taina Mair was instrumental in Duke’s attack, racking up four steals and five assists.
“I thought she was maybe the most impactful player in the game for us,” Lawson said of Mair, “There's so many more ways to impact winning other than scoring … She's so tough, she cares about winning and that's the best thing about her.”
But Duke’s defense wasn’t only about the attack — and to Lawson, the team’s focus on disciplined disrupting is what really pushed it to the next level.
“We're not necessarily playing defense to get the takeaway,” Lawson said. “You want to make them uncomfortable, but you don't want to be reckless and give up open opportunities.”
The Blue Devils certainly put the pressure on for the Bears. Coming into the game, Cal scored an average of 77.5 points per game, but Thursday it was held to a measly 38 points — the fewest total Duke has allowed against a ranked opponent in program history. The Blue Devils kept one of the Bears’ top scorers, Marta Suarez, to one field goal for the entire game.
More than that, the energy from the crowd seemed to pile on top of the pressure Duke created. On Thursday, the Bears made only 50% of the limited free throws they shot, much lower than their usual 70.3% at the charity stripe. The Cameron Crazies — who chanted, “It’s farther than you think!” when Cal stepped to the line — amplified the force that was already there.
To Lawson, getting her team to rise to the defensive occasion has been a big goal, and Thursday, it felt like they were getting closer to achieving it. During “We Back Pat” week, there couldn’t be a better time for a milestone in the Blue Devils’ defensive evolution.
“Most of what we do is based off of what I learned from her,” Lawson said of Summitt.
Coaching her team from the sidelines, Lawson wasn’t sure if her team saw the connection between itself and Tennessee while it was playing. But she certainly did.
“We've just been running through our defense and focusing on it every single practice,” freshman forward Toby Fournier said. “That's something that [Lawson] is striving for. And every single speech she makes is about becoming that defensive team that we want to be.”
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