“Obviously, it wasn’t very pretty.”
That was NC State women’s basketball coach Wes Moore summing up his team’s 54-51 win over Duke Friday in the ACC Tournament.
Truer words were never spoken. State couldn’t make a foul shot and after the first period Duke basically couldn’t make anything. Duke went seven minutes without a field goal in the fourth quarter and still had a chance to tie with seconds left when Taina Mair found herself open for a 3-pointer.
She missed. Duke had lots of misses. After shooting 44% in the first period, Duke made 29% in the second, 25% in the third and an appalling 18.8% (3 for 16) in the final period.
The individual shooting stats were equally dismal for Duke. Interestingly the three freshmen who played shot well, Oluchi Okananwa 4 for 6, Jadyn Donovan 3 for 4, Delaney Thomas 2 for 3.
The non-freshmen combined for 20%, 10 for 50 from the field. Duke made 1 of 13 from beyond the arc. Mair shot 2 for 15 (0 for 6 on 3s). Ashlon Jackson made 1 of 11, Kennedy Brown 2 of 10, Reigan Richardson 2 for 7.
Richardson had the only made 3. But she scored only five points in 18 foul-plagued minutes that included fouling a 3-point shooter twice, the first time with one second left in the first quarter.
So, how did Duke even have a chance at the end?
Well, Duke can defend. After shooting 57% in the opening period, Duke held the Wolfpack to 31% from the field. Duke forced 15 turnovers, only committed 12 and out-rebounded State 45-41.
But sometimes you’ve got to make shots.
The first-half was one of those everybody-has-runs games. State led 4-0, Duke led 12-8, State led 21-16 after one, then 29-19, then an 8-0 Duke run closed the half at 29-27 State.
We did get to see Duke get two points on a team basket when a loose ball bounced off the floor into the basket.
Duke needs to run that play more often.
Duke scored the first four points of the second half to go up 33-29 and complete a 12-0 run. But Duke bricked some open shots, a lot actually and State led 43-42 after three when Madison Hayes knocked down a 3-pointer.
The Wolfpack never trailed in the final period, although Duke tied it at 45 and 47.
“We had something to do with it [the shooting drought] and they did to,” Kara Lawson said. “They’re a really good defensive team. We didn’t execute well and our decision making was poor in that fourth quarter. When we had opportunities, we didn’t finish. When we had big possessions, we didn’t execute.”
She added that Duke took too many 3s early in the shot clock but also just missed some good looks.
State had numerous chances to extend their lead late but missed seven of eight foul shots.
State ended 7 for 20 from the line.
Without belaboring the obvious State did throw Duke some lifelines and Duke still couldn’t make it work.
Jokes about great free-throw defense only work when you win.
Okananwa led Duke with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Kennedy Brown had nine points and seven rebounds but five made foul shots only partially off-setting her woeful shooting from the field.
Still, this isn’t going to hurt Duke’s NCAA resume. Brown, Richardson and Jackson are the only Blue Devils with much NCAA Tournament experience.
Okananwa was Duke’s best player in Greensboro and she’s one of Duke’s rotation players making her NCAA debut.
“All of this is learning opportunities,” she said. “All of this is really just making us stronger as a team and we’re getting the experience we need to get ready to be able to compete. We’re just going to harp on the stuff we need to improve on and bring it with us to the tournament.”
Lawson touted her team’s ability to keep the game from getting away from them as a sign of growth.
She also said she told her team to imagine how much this loss would hurt if it ended the season.
It wasn’t just poor shooting, poor shot selection was as much to blame. While we cut down on our typical abysmal turnover rate, our offense remains an adventure in chaos. At times I think that our frenetic defense (which is our greatest strength) carries over to our offense.
Yep, was a tough afternoon. We had a strong start, but our poor shooting let us down as the game went on. Now we can sit back, regroup and see just what we can still accomplish in the NCAA's.