The Duke men don’t play at home until next week; Saturday’s game is at Georgia Tech.
But there’s a pretty big women’s basketball game coming up Thursday night.
Let’s go to the scorecard. Duke is 7-1 in the ACC, tied with Notre Dame for first place in the conference.
Virginia Tech will come to town 6-3 in the ACC. Duke is 17-2 overall, ranked 16th in the AP poll. Tech is 16-3 overall, ranked 12th. Duke is 8th in the NET Tech 21st.
Yes, there is a pretty serious disjunct between the polls and the NET.
But that doesn’t mean the Hokies aren’t a serious threat to end Duke’s undefeated-at-Cameron season.
They certainly didn’t have any trouble with Duke last season, beating Duke 77-55 in Cassell and 65-54 in Cameron.
Tech’s Elizabeth Kitley was a big reason for the Hokies’ two wins.
And yes, I’m aware of the pun.
Kitley is 6-6 and she’s a senior now. She was the 2022 ACC Player of the Year and she’s certainly going to be in the mix this season; she’s averaging 18.7 points and 11.1 rebounds, shooting 56 percent from the field, with 2 blocks per game.
Kitley had 46 points and 25 rebounds in the two Duke-VT games last season and Duke cannot afford to allow that kind of dominance happen again.
“You start with her size,” Kara Lawson told the media Tuesday. “There just aren’t a lot of 6-6 players floating around in the world. Her size is an issue because you can’t guard her with everybody on the court. She’s obviously very good in single coverage so you have to make tough decisions. Are you going to bring an extra defender or stay in single coverage? They obviously have a plethora of 3-point shooting surrounding her, so if you decide to bring more than one defender, they can make you pay that way as well. We’ll do what we normally try to do with any player, make catches hard, make shots hard, limit her opportunity to score in the paint.”
As it turns out Duke also has one of those rare 6-6 players, Oregon State transfer Kennedy Brown. Brown has nowhere near Kitley’s athleticism or skill.
But Brown does provide a defensive presence and Kitley doesn’t face a lot of 6-6 opponents.
“We just need to play our scheme,” Lawson said. “Kennedy does see eye-to-eye with her and is a good player in her own right. That will be a matchup to watch. Just being sound but be sound without fouling and use her length to make it as difficult as possible.”
Kitley isn’t Tech’s only weapon. Georgia Amoore is one of the ACC’s best point guards. She’s a junior and she’s averaging 14.4 points and 5.5 assists per game.
Tech coach Kenny Moore added two high-profile transfers to the program, Taylor Soule from Boston College and Ashley Owusu from Maryland.
Owusu is the wildcard. She was an All-American at Maryland but missed nine games with a broken pinkie finger earlier this season. She’s back but she only had 4 points in 15 minutes in Tech’s most recent game, a 74-57 win over Wake Forest. But she’s been an elite player at the college level and if she can regain that form then VT can become a real force, not just on the ACC level but the national level.
Let’s just hope she doesn’t reach that level Thursday night.
Lawson has built this team around defense. Even in the only loss since Thanksgiving Duke allowed only 61 points to North Carolina.
And still lost, scoring only 55.
Tech is averaging 75 points per game this season and they scored 81 against Louisville.
Then again those 61 points UNC scored is the most Duke has allowed this season against an ACC opponent and that total was inflated by late foul shots as Duke tried to extend the game.
Duke may. not be able to win an 80-75 game against VT but they sure can win a 65-60 game.
How do they do that?
Lawson says the key will be finding Tech’s shooter’s in transition and “being smart in spacing and being there on the catch” in the half-court.
“We have to challenge every shot they take.”
And there are some positive data points on Duke’s offense. Sophomore point Shayeann Day-Wilson is coming off 40 points in Duke’s last two games.
Lawson says Day-Wilson has improved every facet of her game.
“She was spectacular as a freshman but she was mostly spectacular scoring the ball. She was inconsistent in other areas. Her consistency on defense is way better this year, her consistency in looking to set up her teammates is better.”
And Duke’s 3-point shooting is trending up, 6 for 14 against Wake Forest, 9 for 24 against Clemson, 4 for 6 against Georgia Tech.
Lawson says Duke was shooting 3s well in practice even when they weren’t in games and she just told her team “to stay consistent in their routines. It’s obviously paid off. Part of it is taking good shots. If we take good shots I think we’re a pretty good 3-point shooting team.”
Celeste Taylor bounced back nicely from a dismal foul-plagued effort at Chapel Hill with a typical Tayloresque stat-stuffer against Syracuse. Consider the Carolina game an outlier.
Duke’s schedule is going to be a minefield from here on out. After Thursday five of Duke’s next seven games are on the road. Duke only plays Florida State once this season and it’s on the road, Sunday afternoon. Duke only plays Notre Dame once this season and it’s on the road. Duke will have a rematch with Virginia Tech in Blacksburg on February 16.
“I’m very proud of where we are,” Lawson said. “Now we get to a challenging part of our schedule where we’re going to be tested at a higher level and again, it’s all information. We’re going to see where we are and what we need to improve on and hopefully while we’re seeing all those things we’re still able to find ways to win the game.”
She added that “we need to be tested. We need to play in these environments to prepare us for March.”
Wheels up at 8 P.M., TV coverage on the ACC Network.