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.
In a break from ACC play, the Blue Devils played with comfort and ease on their home court against the Rockets, with freshman forward Jadyn Donovan and senior center Kennedy Brown leading the team’s scoring effort.
In the first half, there looked to be a non-zero chance that it would be an 0-3 week for head coach Kara Lawson’s group. In the end, however, Duke demonstrated its adaptability.
After a 19-point loss to Clemson during the week, Duke had the chance to respond against a talented, tough Florida Gulf Coast ballclub. Needing a statement victory for their identity, the Blue Devils stepped up and delivered.
From the very start of the game, Duke was playing catch-up to Clemson’s narrow lead. Although the Blue Devils were favored by 13.5 by HHS ahead of tipoff, they didn’t quite look the part on the court Thursday.
Following a near-upset against No. 1 South Carolina, the Blue Devils looked like a team that could hold its own against the biggest names in women’s college basketball. But from the first whistle, Duke came out as a different team than the one that had taken the top ranked team in the country Gamecocks to the final minutes.
The Blue Devils were never going to win this matchup on the offensive end by scoring in the paint and running sets. Rather, in an environment where Duke was physically undermatched, the team shot 3-pointers and ran in transition. And for most of the game, the plan worked.
South Carolina women’s hoops might be equally as or more dominant than any other program in recent college sports memory. On Sunday afternoon, the Gamecocks showed up in Cameron Indoor Stadium to prove exactly that. The visitors outlasted the Blue Devils in the second half, escaping with a 77-61 victory.
