The 1st Half
Duke went to another sold-out building and once again took care of
business. This game was a bit different from their other big wins this
year against Maryland and Tennessee. In the first game, it was Duke's
clinical dissection of Maryland's defense that was such a jaw-dropping
sight. Against Tennessee, Duke's laser-like intensity burned the Lady
Vols for the first few minutes, but the Devils weren't able to sustain
that for a whole game. Still, this team is excellent at turning momentum
around quickly and fending off challenges. They certainly have no problem
matching the intensity of their top opponents, all of whom have been
curiously flat at times against Duke.
I think part of that is a function of the way Duke can lull other teams to
sleep a bit--while Duke has some fine individual talent, there aren't any
Alana Beard or Monique Currie figures for opponents to really fixate on
and get excited about facing. There's a sense that this Duke team is
doing it with mirrors at times, considering that they have less talent
than last year's team, fewer scorers and much less depth. Even though
Duke is the #1 team in the country, opponents haven't been cowed by that
aura. Against teams with similar talent, that lack of fear has actually
bred a lack of intensity--which of course is what Duke is hoping for all
along. It's not unusual for a Duke opponent to walk away after a loss and
think, "We just didn't shoot well. They're definitely beatable." That
happened with the Heels tonight, and I'll have more on just why they
didn't shoot well later.
In this game, it was Lindsey Harding's job to shadow Ivory Latta
constantly. Latta is at her most dangerous when given a lane to attack the
basket. Duke wanted her to take contested threes instead, and hope that
she missed. Against Erlana Larkins, Duke wanted to keep her off the
boards and the foul line. Larkins had 14 rebounds, but Alison Bales
matched her and managed to outscore her. Bales was responsible not only
for guarding center LaToya Pringle but also played a lot of help on
Larkins and stopped the penetration of a few guards as well with her
shotblocking.
The wrinkle thrown at Duke was game-long foul trouble. Coach G was able
to use this difficulty and turn it into a positive for Duke in two ways.
First, the fact that Harding, Bales & Gay all picked up 2 first-half fouls
forced G to make a big commitment to using her bench. To their immense
credit, Joy Cheek, Brittany Mitch & Bridgette Mitchell all came up with
some key plays. They also picked up a collective 7 fouls in the half, but
that did save others from picking up cheap fouls in a game with a lot of
opportunities for contact thanks to so many missed shots. The second
hidden advantage for Duke with all of that foul trouble came in the second
half. Duke put the Heels in the bonus just six minutes into the half.
This forced Gail to change her style on defense a bit, going to a sagging
man-to-man that encouraged UNC to take any shot they wanted past 16 feet
or so. With Latta, they forced her out a bit further and at least kept a
spy on her so as to encourage her to pull up and shoot quickly, before she
could really get set. Sagging off helped eliminate the cheap fouls, cut
off driving lanes and made it hard for the Heels to get the ball inside.
It also kept Duke's legs fresh, along with the bench getting those crucial
minutes.
As a result, UNC got close but could never get over the hump in the
second half. The further the game went on, the more this favored Duke.
The Heels have a tremendous Big Four group of stars in Larkins, Latta,
Camille Little (who was fabulous with 21 points) and LaToya Pringle.
That foursome alone has been enough to run rushshod over every opponent.
However, UNC's depth is not nearly as good this season as last year. In
2006, they were able to bring Rashanda McCants, Alex Miller and Pringle in
off the bench, and also got nice contributions from Heather Claytor and
Christina DeWitt. This season, two of these players are now starters,
DeWitt is out on suspension, and Claytor hasn't improved her game at all.
With glue player La'Tangela Atkinson gone, the Heels have had to lean on
their stars more and more. In this game, that strategy bit them on the
butt. In most games, it works fine, because Latta usually hits a couple
of those insane threes of hers and Larkins overwhelms whomever happens to
be guarding her. In this game, the Heels had to play from behind during
the last 35 or so minutes, something they weren't used to. That wore them
down more than I think they were expecting, and the result was a lot of
chucking instead of shooting. One could see that their legs were gone,
and it was affecting everything down to their free throws. Meanwhile, the
time spent on the bench by Harding reenergized her and her team, and they
finished off their rivals.
A last note on the defense in this game, and Duke's philosophy in general
this year. Coach G has at her disposal the best one-on-one perimeter
defender in the country in Lindsey Harding and the best off the ball in
Alison Bales. Wanisha Smith's strength and feet make her effective
against a variety of opponents, while Carrem Gay's quickness allows Duke
to hedge a lot. Abby Waner is the weakest of the individual defenders on
the starting five, but she's also the most clever off the ball. In
melding that group together, the plan is always to turn an opponent into a
group of jump-shooters. If a team has a high number of assists relative
to their field goals, it means that Duke's had a number of breakdowns
defensively.
Against UNC, Duke wanted to bait them into reverting to their wilder,
shot-chucking tendencies. Primarily, they wanted to make sure that Latta
didn't get to penetrate and dish, but it also meant that they didn't want
Larkins passing the ball out to shooters who were spotting up. UNC in
general and Latta in particular are adequate pull-up shooters, but are far
deadlier when they spot up and the ball is relocated out to them.
Maryland repeatedly double-teamed Larkins, as did UConn. In the former
game, Larkins simply passed out to Latta, who spotted up and started to
get into a rhythm. She hit crazier and crazier shots, but her feet were
set on all of them. Against UConn, Larkins simply dumped the ball into
Pringle, who feasted on cuts.
Coach G decided to take a different approach. She never double-teamed
Larkins, trusting in Bales enough to shut her down if she got close to the
basket. Latta's quickness is simply not what it once was, and Harding was
more than capable of keeping up with her. The result was that Latta was
forced to excel at the weakest part of her game: pull-up jump-shooting.
The Heels as a team were forced to excel at the weakest part of their
game: half-court execution on offense against straight-up man-to-man
defense. Basketball is a game of rhythm and comfort, and UNC was never
able to get comfortable. This Duke team likes to run, but they've really
done most of their best work in the halfcourt this year. Using Bales in
the high post to open up room for cutters has frustrated opponents with
powerful inside games, because they're either reluctant or unable to send
someone out to guard Bales in the high post.
A few stats to illustrate these points, and then on to the play-by-play.
UNC leads the nation in assists with nearly 20 a game--they had just 9
here. They force 27 turnovers a game, but Duke had just 15. They score
89 points a game, and were held an incredible 36 points below their
average. They were held 21% below their normal shooting percentage of 48,
and 25% below their three point shooting percentage of 35. Duke
outrebounded a team that normally holds a +13 advantage over opponents.
These numbers reflected one other crucial factor in Duke's win: UNC runs
most of their opponents off the floor, but because Duke kept their
turnovers under control and won the rebounding battle, the Heels never got
a chance to unleash their fast break. Even when they did get to run, Duke
always made sure to race back down the floor to stop transition.
Duke's early game plan was to attack the basket, but blocks by Pringle &
Larkins helped force the Devils into 1-11 shooting in the first four
minutes. Pringle meanwhile scored 4 quick points to give the Heels a 6-2
lead. Wanisha Smith scored on a cut earlier and drained a 15' jumper to
pull Duke within 2. Latta hit a short jumper, but Waner went baseline
over a backpedalling Alex Miller for a three point play.
Joy Cheek entered the game in relief of Gay, and immediately stuck back
a miss of Harding's. Bales then pulled in one of Latta's many missed
shots, handed the ball to Lindsey, then watched her weave her way through
UNC's defense for a layup. The Heels never managed to stop the ball.
That gave Duke its first lead at 11-10. The teams exchanged misses for a
couple of minutes as Bales started to assert herself on defense, blocking
Pringle and Rashanda McCants. After she got a rebound, she threw a bad
crosscourt pass that the Heels' Jessica Breland intercepted and scored on.
Duke moved on to the next play as Harding broke through their press and
hit a 10' jumper to make it 13-12. The Devils would never trail again.
Duke pushed their lead to 3 when Bales was in the high post and nailed a
cutting Waner for a layup. Harding missed a jumper and Larkins had leaked
out for what looked like an easy transition basket. Instead, Brittany
Mitch raced down the floor and cleanly blocked the shot as Larkins was
going up. After a foul, Bales inbounded the ball to Harding, who drained
a 17' baseline jumper. The Devils had a chance to further extend their
lead, but Gay missed 2 free throws and then Bales turned the ball over.
Little hit 2 freebies after the foul, but Harding beat the press again and
nailed a 15' jumper. Bridgette Mitchell then stole a crosscourt pass from
Miller, and while she missed the layup, Nish was there for the stickback.
Duke led by 7 and one could start to see concern on the faces of UNC's
players.
Latta penetrated, posted and got a three point play against Harding.
Duke responded with Smith calling for the ball and draining a three.
Pringle grabbed an offensive rebound and was fouled, but this time Nish
went baseline and got a three point play over Little. The Heels were in
the bonus after a flurry of Duke fouls, but Larkins missed the front end
of a one-and-one. Gay made them pay by spotting up for a jumper, giving
Duke a 29-19 with under four minutes to go in the half.
Getting down by double digits shocked the Heels back into action. Latta
drove and was fouled by Gay for a three point play. Harding missed and
Mitchell fouled McCants going for a rebound, and she hit 2 shots. Nish
turned the ball over and Pringle hit a free throw to pull the Heels within
29-25. However, Pringle's miss triggered a fast break as Harding found a
streaking Smith for a score. Pringle found Little for a shot, then
blocked Gay, who fouled Miller. Miller hit 1 shot (the Heels missed 4 of
their last 9 foul shots as fatigue started to take a toll) to make it
31-28 with a minute to go.
Waner missed a shot but Gay slipped in for the rebound. She worked the
ball out to Emily Waner, who passed to a wide-open Smith for a
cold-blooded trey. There wasn't a defender within 15 feet of her as she
drained the shot, giving her 17 points in the half on 7-14 shooting.
Larkins missed but grabbed her own rebound. She was fouled but only hit 1
shot. Nish missed a three, and that was halftime, with Duke up by 5.
Many made the parallel that this was the same margin as the Duke-UNC men's
game a night before, but this Duke team was far more experienced. Five
Duke players had 2 fouls apiece, with Mitchell picking up 3. Harding
picked her fouls up early, but to her credit she changed her style of play
to avoid a third. Duke's bench played 15 minutes, and while they didn't
have a huge statistical impact, they made several momentum-blunting plays.
