Coming off a difficult loss against No. 1 Notre Dame, turnovers have been a weakness of Duke. The Blue Devils tried to rally against an unranked Louisville team — one of the better squads in the ACC — and while both teams had costly turnovers, the Cardinals were able to capitalize on theirs more.
Throughout the 72-60 defeat, Louisville had 27 points off turnovers whereas Duke had 17. In the beginning of the game, the home team did a good job of creating fast break points. But as the Cardinals settled in, the Blue Devils were forced to play half-court offense and defense, leading to self-inflicted mistakes.
Additionally, fouls were a large part of the loss. Physicality was high between both teams, but ultimately, Duke committed twice the number of fouls as its opponent. This resulted in a 22-4 made free-throw discrepancy in favor of Louisville.
Aside from the number of fouls or turnovers, the Cardinals shot the lights out in this high-profile matchup, making half of their 3-point shots.
Senior guard Jayda Curry had an outstanding game, making three 3-pointers and all of her free throws. Her triples also came at the right times — including one she hit to close out the first half. Perimeter defense, especially against talented guards, has been an issue for Duke.
“In that fourth quarter, it was, you got to attack. You can’t just settle, put pressure on them,” Louisville head coach Jeff Walz said of his team’s gameplan. “And we did a really good job of that.”
Against Notre Dame, sophomore guard Hannah Hidalgo and senior guard Sonia Citron scored 15 and 14 points, respectively. In this game, Curry ended with 24 points while freshman Tajianna Roberts had 11 points for the Cardinals.
Meanwhile, the Blue Devils shot a mere 15.4% from behind the arc. The number of 3-point shots Louisville made meant that Duke had to depend on its offense and play catch-up after the first quarter. But, the team was missing point production from its leading scorer. Freshman standout Toby Fournier shot 3-for-7, scoring only six points compared to her average of 13.1 points per game.
The Blue Devils did not go down without a fight, however. They tried to counteract the opposing offense by switching to a full-court press during the first quarter. Then in the third quarter, Duke went on a run. It took and started to make a lot more shots in the second half.
Louisville made 8-of-17 shots in the second half while the Blue Devils went 14-for-30 shots. They each made one 3-pointer. The outcome of the game ultimately came down to execution in the fourth quarter, where Duke struggled once again.
In their game against N.C. State, the Blue Devils led by as much as six in the fourth quarter until the Wolfpack rallied. Similarly, against the in-state rival North Carolina, Duke lost in overtime.
“Those last five minutes, we’ve lost three of our four conference games in those possession games late, and that falls directly on me,” head coach Kara Lawson said. “We’ve got to grow, and I’ve got to put them in better positions on offense and defense to be able to win those games.”
Despite the flaws, the Blue Devils have some bright spots they can build on. There were many plays with a high level of hustle and grit, such as a loose ball that ended up in Oluchi Okananwa’s hands for a layup. The Boston native had a great game, shooting 7-for-13 and scoring 17 points.
Duke looks forward to a bounce-back game Feb. 23 against Syracuse at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
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