There were a couple of dozen or so Austin Peay fans in Cameron for Thursday night’s women’s game against Duke.
And not a single example of college basketball’s most iconic cheer. Not one single “Let’s Go Peay.”
Not that the visitors gave their fans much to cheer about. It got ugly for the visitors and it got ugly early and it stayed ugly.
Austin Peay came into the game at 3-4, with losses to Illinois-Chicago and Gardner-Webb. So, their 74-31 loss to Duke didn’t raise any eyebrows. Duke is playing pretty good basketball right now and it’s starting with their defense and that’s starting with 6-1 grad-student forward Elizabeth Balogun.
It would be an understatement to say that Balogun imposed her will on the game from the opening tip. She was called for a travel 12 seconds into the game. But she got a steal seconds later and finished inside for the game’s first points.
Then Duke went into its full-court press, with Balogun guarding the in-bounds pass. She forced an APSU time-out. Then a five-second call. Then she scored inside. Then she notched a steal, scored, drew a foul and made the foul shot.
Fifty-nine seconds into the game the score was Elizabeth Balogun 7, everyone else 0.
After an exchange of empty possessions, Balogun assisted Kennedy Brown inside and it was 9-0, then she got another steal and took a seat.
The tone had been set.
“I think she has shown great consistency from game to game and, as you said, great consistency offensively and defensively, Lawson said. “I told her this morning that I thought this was a game that she could really impact offensively, because they play mostly four guards. And so, her playing that four position, she was going to have a significant size and length advantage. And I thought that if we get her the ball on the interior, she could convert, and that’s what happened. On the first six points of the game, she just got in there and finished, but she is in a good space right now.”
Balogun said the goal is to “start it right. Be the first to punch them.”
After the George Washington-TCU brawl earlier this week I feel compelled to note than she was using “punch” in the figurative sense.
As the first quarter progressed and the APSU missed shots and turnovers mounted a bizarre sub-plot set in. When would the Governors score?
Down 18-0 with 31 seconds left in the quarter Liz Gibbs went to the foul line for two shots. She missed both and the quarter ended 18-0.
This was the first time Duke had ever held a team scoreless for a quarter. I’m pretty sure this equaled an NCAA record because it’s impossible to score fewer than zero points.
For the record Austin Peay missed all nine field goal attempts and two foul shots, while turning it over 12 times in that 10-minute stanza.
Duke probably should have led by more than 18 points but the Blue Devils turned it over eight times. That’s 20 combined turnovers in the first period.
Do a thought experiment. Imagine that neither team tried to score and neither team tried to defend, resulting in a shot-clock violation on every possession for an entire quarter.
That would be 20 turnovers.
Lawson said the turnovers resulted from Duke trying to make difficult passes when easier passes were available. And Duke did clean that up after the first period, turning it over only three times over the next 20 minutes before emptying the bench late.
APSU finally got on the board 1:20 into the second period. It took them 15 minutes to surpass the seven points Balogun scored in the opening minute.
It was 36-11 at the half.
Duke didn’t let up after intermission. Now, pressing a team that far behind may seem like clubbing baby seals. But the press is an integral part of what Duke is going to do this season and to maximize that you have to use it in a game against someone else. Practice only goes so far. And Austin Peay did win 20 games last season and they did a much better job of breaking the press after that first period, so as painful as 18-0 must have been, they probably improved by fighting through it.
Or I surmise. Their coach Brittany Young did not make herself available for post-game interactions.
“We continue to play really hard on that end,” Lawson said about her defense “and that pleases me. I think it is becoming something that we are, versus something that we can do from time to time. I think we are a good defensive team, and I was pleased with that.”
Balogun dominated the third period about as thoroughly as the first. She scored eight points in 5:30 before leaving the game for the duration, her work done.
She ended with 16 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 5 steals in 15:30, surely one of the most efficient performances in Duke history.
It was 58-24 after three.
Lawson has 14 scholarship players and 10 of them played between 13 and 22 minutes, with the other four playing at least 4:46. Reigan Richardson showed an ability to get to the rim and joined Balogun in double figures, with 12 points. Shayeann Day-Wilson went scoreless but led everyone with five assists and didn’t turn it over at all.
Austin Peay doesn’t have anyone on their roster taller than 6-1. Duke dominated on the glass 39-22, with guard Jordyn Oliver leading Duke with five.
But Duke only made 1 of 10 from beyond the arc, Ashlon Jackson accounting for the triple; she scored nine points.
Austin Peay finally made its first and only free throw with 2:30 left and ended with 29 turnovers. Their longest run was four points, late in the third quarter.
That’s about as dominant a defense as a team can play.
Duke will go to Fort Meyers Sunday to play Florida Gulf Coast before shutting it down for exams. If you don’t closely follow women’s college basketball you might not realize that this is going to be a significant challenge for Duke. FGCU is 8-1 on the season, the loss 93-69 to Stanford.
This isn't ‘t an outlier. Under Karl Smesko they’re one of the best mid-majors around. They’ve represented the Atlantic Sun in the last five contested NCAA Tournaments and were 30-3 when the 2020 season was canceled. They beat Virginia Tech in last season’s NCAA Tournament.
Wheels up at 1.