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Game Recap by Rob CloughDigging into the history books, the last time Duke lost three in a row was in
February of 1997, ending the regular season with two straight blowout losses.
Duke actually had two separate such losing streaks in that season, a year that
was a rare hiccup in the Goestenkors era. Joanne McCallie has cringed every
time someone brings up a "last time" comparison, and this is certainly
understandable. She has to feel like she's not working with a full toolbox
with a group that already had certain flaws. Combine that with a brutal road
schedule, and McCallie's degree of difficulty has certainly been high. At the
same time, there was a concern not just that the team was losing, but in the
way the team was losing. Last year's team was greater than the sum of its
parts, and that was a tribute both to the players and the way the coaches used
them. This year's team is perhaps less than the sum of its parts, or rather,
its equation for success is still in development. What is obvious is that the
team has shown little cohesion at either end of the floor. The team is trying
hard, but doesn't always seem to know what to do.
During the losing streak, Duke has certainly played motivated competition ready
to play its best basketball. In the case of Penn State, they'd lost all five
of their matchups with Duke, including a humiliating dismantling last season.
The past two years, Duke's pressure defense had turned PSU point guard Brianne
O'Rourke into a turnover machine. By cutting off the team's head, the body
died, and the Lady Lions simply couldn't get any offense going against Duke.
With Rene Portland deposed as Penn State's coach, it was also a perfect
opportunity for new coach Coquese Washington to get a huge win for her
rebuilding program.
Duke's initial game plan was the same as it's been all year: get the ball into
Chante Black and Carrem Gay. They started, along with Bridgette Mitchell, Abby
Waner (now close to 100%) and Emily Waner. That game plan worked nicely to
start the game, as Duke took a 5-0 lead with a post-up by Black and 3 points by
Gay. O'Rourke took E.Waner off the dribble for a score and Janessa Wolff ot a
stickback, aided by a Mitchell offensive foul. Black got a tip-in but Gay was
whistled for a technical foul during a celebration. That seemed to throw her
off her game completely, as she immediately turned the ball over. On the next
play, Gay seemed confused as to what defense she was playing. It seemed to be
a man with some zone principles, and she got lost in it. She went low and lost
sight of a her opponent spotting up for a wide-open three, and couldn't recover
in time. That gave Penn State a lead that they held for a long time.
Duke tried to bring pressure after that, but Penn State easily broke through it
for an easy layup to go up 11-7. They started having an extra defender cheat
over Black's way to prevent easy entry passes; it was a clever wrinkle because
a true double-team would have left someone open, but leaving Black in a basic
one-on-one was killing them. Jasmine Thomas was in the game, drove and found
A.Waner for a three, but O'Rourke blew past Brittany Mitch and no one slid over
to stop her. After a Cheek miss, Gay was once again out of position, and this
time got beaten going to the hoop. After another miss, PSU scored easily in
transition, forcing Duke's first time-out, down 17-10.
Things got worse before they got better. Black got the ball back inside for an
easy score, but a three and transition basket pushed Penn State's lead back to
10. After a Black score, she was up too high to stop O'Rourke from driving,
and A.Waner didn't rotate over this time to prevent the easy score. Thomas
used her quickness to score on a drive, but Mitch got lost when Penn State used
a pick and roll, fouled, turned the ball over, and then missed a short jumper.
Penn State took advantage with a three with nine minutes left.
By this time, Duke had put Penn State into the bonus. Penn State's shooting
started to dry up a bit, but they scored their next 7 points from the foul
line. The Lady Lions went up 33-18 with 6:44 left. At this point, the Devils
had turned the ball over 9 times and had committed 5 offensive fouls. A player
committing such a foul is trying to fight through a defense on an individual
basis, and this was part of the problem: too much one-on-one play and too
little reliance on teammates.
Thomas just kept going and found Black inside. Karima Christmas came off the
bench to put in an errant pass by Joy Cheek, and a hustling Abby got a three
point play to pull Duke within 33-25. Thomas stole the bal, missed the shot
and then compounded her miss by fouling. After 2 freebies by PSU and a Black
miss, Mitch stepped in front of a pass and zipped in for a layup. The Devils
pulled within 6 when Abby drained a three on a Mitch pass, but PSU struck back
with a huge three. Duke had a chance to answer, but Waner turned the ball over
and Mashea Williams burned Duke with a short jumper. Two things killed Duke in
the half: Penn State scored 12 points off of 11 turnovers, and had 13 free
throw attempts to Duke's 3. Penn State was simply efficient: they hit their
foul shots, nailed open threes (4-5), didn't turn the ball over (5 in the half)
and didn't put Duke at the foul line. Duke was bigger, more athletic and
deeper, but none of that meant anything because they weren't able to exploit
their advantages as a team.
A.Waner came out fired-up in the second half, getting a steal & layup, forcing
another turnover and then feeding Black for a basket to pull Duke wihin 7.
O'Rourke got free and Waner fouled her for a three point play. After a Duke
miss, PSU pushed the lead back to 12. Jasmine Thomas drained a three and then
threw a no-look entry pass to A.Waner for a three. Suddenly, the lead was just
6. PSU got 2 offensive rebounds and pushed the lead to 8, but Black continued
to torture the Lady Lions with another basket. Black put Williams on the line,
picking up her third foul, but Christmas found A.Waner for another three. to
make it 50-45.
Williams blew past A.Waner and once again no one rotated over to stop
penetration. The teams traded baskets over the next few minutes, with Penn
State holding Duke at arm's length. Thomas hit a jumper, Cheek a couple of
free throws and Christmas powered up for a stickback. Penn State was killing
Duke when its guards got a little penetration and then pulled up for a short
jumper. Not all of those shots were easy, but Duke simply wasn't putting
enough pressure on the perimeter to prevent this from happening, nor were they
disrupting passing lanes.
Offensively, the Devils were starting to click. Christmas hit a 10' jumper,
Thomas stole the ball and was fouled (hitting 2), and then Duke went back into
a full-court press. Waner stole the ball and got it to Black. She posted up
and then flipped it over to Mitch, who moved nicely without the ball. The Lady
Lions had coughed the ball up 7 times in the first ten minutes of the second
half. Williams blew through Duke's defense to make it 60-57, but Thomas found
Waner for a game-tying three. Williams scored again, but E.Waner fed Thomas
for another three to give Duke a 63-62 lead.
That started a stretch where there were 8 lead changes and three ties. Williams
hit
2 freebies and PSU built the lead back to 3, but a Black score and a Gay free
throw made it 66-up with six minutes left. O'Rourke hit 2 freebies, but Black
had a stick back: 68-up. O'Rourke hit a short jumper, but Thomas sank another
three to make it 71-70 for Duke. She followed that great shot with a silly
reach-in foul, and of course O'Rourke hit both foul shots to make it 72-71.
Black scored on back-to-back baskets for Duke, but Penn State built the lead to
80-75 after a Black turnover and a bad Thomas shot. Jasmine missed 3 shots in
a
row as PSU took their chances with her to make sure Waner wouldn't get her
hands
on the ball.
After that third miss, though, she went up over a bigger player and stuck back
her miss with a minute left. Williams hit 2 free throws, but Waner hit a
ridiculous three with two players draped all over her to make it 82-80.
O'Rourke hit 2 foul shots with 22 seconds left, but Waner found Christmas
quickly for a score. Mitch tipped the high inbounds pass to Christmas, who
scored and was fouled, tying the game. She missed the free throw and Duke
opted not to pressure the inbounds pass with 8 seconds to go. I'm guessing
Duke didn't want to risk either a foul or a home run pass. O'Rourke zoomed up
the floor and found Wolff inside for a score. The officials put up .5 seconds
on the clock, and Christmas got a shot off but it fell away.
Duke's comeback was encouraging. Four players were in double figures, and Duke
held a 13-4 edge in points off turnovers in the second half. The Devils also had 15 more shots than
Penn State in the second half and hit a remarkable 7 of their 10 threes. What
they didn't do was keep Penn State off the foul line; the Lions hit 17-17 in
the half and needed almost every point. Waner and Thomas combined for forty
points and 65 minutes, while Black massaged her way through foul trouble for 21
points and 6 rebounds. Christmas hit several key shots. Players fought through
mistakes and lived by "next play". Still, not every part was in synch. The
forward combo of Cheek and Gay combined for 3-11 shooting, 7 fouls, 3 turnovers
and just 4 rebounds. Those two players will be needed to play great defense,
hit open shots and rebound.
Duke's next game is in Cameron on December 6th against Rutgers. What was
supposed to be a revenge game is instead a fight for survival and respect.
Rutgers was perhaps in a similar position last season after Duke left them shaking
their heads with a 40-point loss. Can Duke make a similar turnaround? Beating
Rutgers will take a lot of teamwork, a great deal of defensive intensity, and a
level of cohesion & efficiency that's yet to be demonstrated by the team or
instilled by the coaches. When players and coaches get on the same page, this
Duke team will have a chance to excel. This means the players carrying out the
coaches' schemes as taught, as well as the coaches figuring out the best ways
to
exploit Duke's size, quickness and depth. During this losing streak (and
indeed, even before that), it was clear that the difficulties the team was
facing (injuries, the schedule, adjusting to new schemes) were making each player
press harder instead of pressing them together. That has to change unless this
Duke team wants the dubious distinction of being the first to lose four games
in a row since 1994 (Coach G's second season).
Notes: The last time Duke lost three non-conference games consecutive on their regular season schedule (without an ACC foe between) came in the 1983-84 season, when Duke finished 8th in the Dial Classic in Miami. Since joining the ACC Duke has never had a four game loss streak of this sort. Duke last lost 3 regular season non-conference games in a season in 2001-02, to Toledo, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
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