Carson-Newman College - Sunday 11/7 2:00 PM - Cameron Indoor Stadium - Exhibition

Significant Losses: The Lady Eagles lost two of their three top players, including leading scorer & playmaker Ashley Kyle (14 ppg, 5 apg, 2 rpg, 2 spg) and post player Shari Buford (13 ppg, 10 rpg, 3 bpg).

Who's Coming Back: Second leading scorer Mandy Mendenhall returns after averaging 14 ppg, 4 rpg and 2.5 apg last year. She was also the team's best long-range shooter at 37%. Zoriah Williams was a steady presence at forward, putting up 9 ppg and 7 rpg. Guard Candis Clear will step into the starting lineup after scoring 7 ppg. Forward Katlin Moore averaged 7 ppg and 2 rpg and will also likely be a full-time starter.

The Skinny: This is an exhibition game against Division II Carson-Newman, best known as Sylvia Hatchell's alma mater. The Lady Eagles had a great season behind Kyle, Mendenhall & Buford but will need to rebuild this year. Playing Duke will certainly be a quick way to find out who's ready to play for them. The Lady Eagles will have no healthy players over 6-0, and that will spell trouble for them against the Devils. That said, this is a proud program that uses a pressure defense to generate easy scores. They forced 24 turnovers a game last year as they averaged an impressive 77.5 ppg. What they didn't do well was shoot from three, and this will also be a problem against Duke. The things they like to opponents will be difficult to do against Duke, especially since they'll be lacking experience. They could challenge Duke for a few minutes, but ultimately Duke's depth and pressure will turn them over. When the Devils get some open shots to fall and go on a run, a small lead could turn into a huge one in the span of a couple of minutes. This game will be about Duke making adjustments from their first exhibition game and seeing what they've learned.

Turning the ball over to give Carson-Newman easy scores.

1965 file photo of Johnny Carson courtesy New York World-Telegram & Sun via US Library of Congress.

ODDLY ENOUGH Carson-Newman College is named for James Harvey Carson (1801-1880) and William Cate Newman. Johnny Carson hosted Paul Newman on the Tonight Show exactly once, on May 26, 1964.

Paul Newman in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (photo public domain)