As the Blue Devils took the court for their pregame warmups, it was immediately obvious to the assembled Duke faithful at Cameron Indoor Stadium that Kara Lawson’s squad was missing a key piece — Toby Fournier. By the time the game started, news had broken that Fournier was out with an illness. The Blue Devils would be without their star freshman player.
Playing without the 2025 ACC Freshman of the Year certainly seemed like an unwelcome prospect for Duke, especially against Oregon, a team known for its superior size in the form of 6-foot-8 center Phillipina Kyei.
And, in the first half, the Blue Devils missed their freshman phenom. Though Fournier’s career in blue and white has only just begun, the Toronto native has quickly become a key contributor and an integral part of Duke’s game plan.
“Not having any of your teammates is kind of a loss,” sophomore forward Delaney Thomas said of Fournier’s absence.
Without her, the Blue Devils initially struggled to find their offensive rhythm in the first half. Oregon, led by Deja Kelly, burst into the contest with a fiery start. Kyei’s height gave Duke pause at first and disrupted its defensive rhythm. Thus, the Ducks enforced their will on both sides of the court, easily weaving their way through Duke’s defense and stifling its shot attempts on the other side.
While the Blue Devils were missing one of their key underclassmen, it was the veterans, namely junior Ashlon Jackson and senior Reigan Richardson, who took Fournier’s absence in stride. Their combined efforts, culminating in 33 of Duke’s points in the 59-53 win, helped lead it to its first back-to-back Sweet 16 appearances since 2012-2013.
“Everyone had to be prepared,” Jackson said. “That’s pretty tough, but we stayed ready, we stayed the course and we got it done.”
Richardson and Jackson have both performed well for the Blue Devils at times and have also struggled to find their offensive rhythm. Despite that, when their team needed them the most Sunday afternoon, the pair did exactly what veteran players should do in win-or-go-home situations: They stepped up.
When Duke went down early in the first half, it was Richardson that kept them in the game and prevented Oregon from building a lead too large to be overcome in the second half.
“Reigan and Oluchi [Okananwa] were the two guards that kind of figured out what they were trying to do defensively,and were able to kind of knife through there and make some plays,” Lawson said.
The Charlotte native brought her veteran expertise onto the court, contributing nine points and four rebounds in the first half — the most of any Duke player — when her team badly needed them.
“She gives it her all defensively every night,” Lawson said. “Offensively, she attacked and she was really efficient. That was big for us.”
With Richardson’s efforts, Duke walked into the locker room staring down a manageable five-point deficit. It was in the second half where Jackson would step up and make her own key contributions to the win.
Even though she went 0-for-3 from the field in the first half, Jackson brushed off some early bad misses and came out of halftime on a mission; her team needed offensive production to stand a chance against the Ducks, and she could provide it.
The junior guard started the half off by draining a 3-pointer on Duke’s opening possession. On the fast break in the next possession, she made another. Any misgivings from her scoreless first half had seemingly vanished, and before Oregon could scramble to readjust for Jackson’s hot hand, the China, Texas, native had gone on a personal 11-0 run to give the Blue Devils their first lead of the afternoon.
“I got tired of missing,” Jackson said. “Having that confidence from my coaches and my teammates, that’s really what got me going there.”
Once Jackson handed her team the lead, they never lost it. The spark she provided Duke coming out of the locker room proved to be exactly what it needed to right the ship and prevent Oregon from completing the upset.
Going into the second weekend of the tournament, Jackson and Richardson must continue to be the veteran backbone of the team, with or without Fournier. When they both play at their best as they did against Oregon, Duke can go head-to-head with the best teams in the country. If one or both of them have an off shooting night, the Blue Devils may be sent scrambling.
Duke will now leave the comfort of Cameron Indoor for Birmingham, Ala., where it will face either No. 6-seed West Virginia or a familiar foe in No. 3-seed North Carolina.
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