Despite the chilly temperatures outside and the chillier crowd inside the JMA Wireless Dome, the Blue Devils, riding the strength of an outstanding second quarter, found a way to come out on top of the Orange in a big-time 58-45 win.
In its 70-62 loss to Notre Dame, Duke once again showed its most fatal flaw: It lacks the offense, and by proxy the star power, to take down top-flight teams.
Early in the second half, the home team looked like it would pull off the upset and send the visitors back to South Bend, Ind., with another tick in the loss column, but Notre Dame fought back viciously, snatching the lead away from the Blue Devils and walking away with the 70-62 win.
Despite the loss, the Blue Devils certainly have something to be proud of — this was a close game against an excellent team, and while the finish was disappointing the performance on the whole was solid.
In front of a packed house at Cassell Coliseum Thursday night, No. 12 Virginia Tech eked out a 61-56 victory against the Blue Devils in a game that went down to the absolute wire.
Duke head coach Kara Lawson is headed to the 2024 Paris Olympics as an assistant coach for the USA Women’s National Team, she announced at Tuesday's media availability.
If each quarter was five minutes, North Carolina would have controlled this game from start to finish. Fortunately for the Blue Devils, there was time to mount a comeback. That wasn't the only time they did so.
Despite falling behind in the third quarter, Duke rallied behind a monstrous performance from forward Delaney Thomas in the fourth quarter to win the game 68-60 in overtime.
Duke welcomes hometown rival North Carolina to Cameron Indoor Stadium Sunday afternoon for their first showdown of the season. Before the 2 p.m. tipoff, The Chronicle’s beat writers are here to offer their predictions about how the Blue Devils will fare.
Duke had one final opportunity to polish its game before entering the toughest portion of the schedule against ACC bottom-feeder Wake Forest. But rather than assert themselves as a clear factor to watch in the conference title race down the stretch, the Blue Devils showed glaring signs of weakness and youth.
Despite first half turmoil, the Blue Devils took care of business, beating the Demon Deacons 69-46 in a Thursday night battle at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Duke has had trouble on the road this season, going 4-5 in its away games. Thursday night was only their second ACC road win, but the Blue Devils completely shut down the Panthers in a commanding defensive performance.
Duke has strung together a series of emphatic wins to strengthen its claim at the ACC’s upper echelon. It grabbed another one Thursday night, never letting its foot off the gas in a 69-38 rout of Pittsburgh.
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.
