After putting together their most complete performance of the season Thursday night against No. 23 Florida State, thrashing the Seminoles by 42, the Blue Devils’ continuous miscues and lackluster energy doomed them to a 64-58 loss against Miami.
Even in late January, Miami brought the heat to the Blue Devils’ trip down south. Throughout the contest, Duke struggled to find its footing and a last-minute comeback attempt fell short against Miami, falling 64-58 Sunday afternoon.
Coming off a demoralizing loss Sunday at the hands of then-No. 4 N.C. State, the Blue Devils needed a strong performance to help right the ship. Something had to give, and it all broke the way of the home team — on a night commemorating one of the sport's legends.
Led by double-point scoring efforts from Ashlon Jackson, Taina Mair, Kennedy Brown, Delaney Thomas, and Camilla Emsbo, a sufficient 53.0% field goal percentage in tandem with a suffocating defensive performance proved to be too much for Cameron Indoor Stadium’s Sunshine State visitors to handle.
Put plain and simple, Duke fell to a more experienced N.C. State team in a sold-out Reynolds Coliseum Sunday afternoon. On the bright side, its performance shows room for growth. There were flashes of offense from the young Blue Devils that had a top-five team in the country on its heels.
Duke, who got down early and stayed down, was defeated by the fourth-ranked Wolfpack 72-57 Sunday afternoon. Held to just 37.9% shooting, a stout N.C. State defense gave the Blue Devils a taste of their own medicine, grabbing steals and forcing turnovers and tough shots for the visitors.
It would be easy to let up defensively and get frustrated after an abysmal offensive start, but like this team has always done under head coach Kara Lawson, the offensive struggles did not affect the defensive effort. The Blue Devils roared back with a motivated performance and knocked off Virginia Tech 63-46 in a thrilling environment.
When they say defense wins championships, there’s no better case study in support of that theory than Duke’s 63-46 win against No. 14 Virginia Tech Thursday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Freshman guard Oluchi Okananwa has continuously been a breath of fresh air for the Blue Devils in a season otherwise marked by growing pains and up-and-down performances.
The continued success from beyond the arc fueled the team's confidence and momentum throughout the game. In the first half, it attempted nine 3-pointers, with only two coming in the first quarter. However, this number surged to 13 during the second half, reflecting the team's growing assertiveness and willingness to take shots.
Duke women's basketball led its ACC tilt with Georgia Tech from the jump, dominating on both ends of the court en route to the 38-point victory.
The desperation for a win was palpable from the jump, as both teams burst out of the gates physically and aggressively, racking up numerous fouls in the process and ultimately culminating in an ugly game on both ends — one that especially showed the highs and lows of Blue Devil basketball in 2023-24.
Both groups were looking to bounce back after less-than-ideal starts to ACC play. On Sunday, it was the Blue Devils who managed to turn things around and come out with a 60-56 victory.
Twenty-seven turnovers was the final number, which paired with 33.3% shooting to make it a rough night all around for Duke. Although it wasn’t all bad, the team’s performance in the KFC Yum! Center was hardly digestible and will be quickly forgotten.
Under the bright lights of the KFC Yum! Center, Duke fell to No. 17 Louisville 61-44 in its first contest of the new year, ending its four-game win streak and setting its conference record to 1-2.
The wild performance on both ends is not new to Duke, which has rarely put it all together so far this season. What is fairly new, though, is the high level at which the Blue Devils closed out the game.
Duke ended the calendar year on a high note, taking down Boston College in its ACC home opener 80-75 in one of its best offensive performances of the young season.
The Blue Devils had complete and utter control of the Golden Eagles. And yet, in the second half, their discipline seemed to falter. The inconsistency that has defined Duke’s season game-to-game this time reared its ugly head.
From the opening tip, it seemed as if Duke was intent on being a grinch, as it hounded the opposition defensively from buzzer to buzzer and 10 different Blue Devils scored en route to a 68-34 victory.
In their 70-45 win against the Rockets, the Blue Devils looked like their old selves again as they got back to the basics of what has made them successful: crashing the board for points in the paint, getting the whole team involved in scoring and controlling the pace of the game.
