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View Full Version : WBB: Duke at Texas A&M



wandalee
11-29-2014, 05:04 PM
Duke women take on #7 Texas A&M on the road tomorrow. This is their 1st real test to see what they have this year and the beginning of a tough Dec schedule (S. Carolina, Kentucky, UConn). Game time is 1:00 on the SEC Network. May have to tape the game and watch it after the men's game.

AIM4excellence
11-30-2014, 08:32 PM
Duke women take on #7 Texas A&M on the road tomorrow. This is their 1st real test to see what they have this year and the beginning of a tough Dec schedule (S. Carolina, Kentucky, UConn). Game time is 1:00 on the SEC Network. May have to tape the game and watch it after the men's game.

EWill did not play. Azura' Stevens DID play. Duke was up the first 3/4 of the game, up by 15 at one point. Then A&M turned up the pressure D and our players ran out of gas - especially Becca, who otherwise had a great game against a top 10 team. PG was a big issue, as KJ had a horrible game and Becca was pressed into PG duties quite a bit. This game was height vs speed and speed won. Not having a real PG hurt big time, as it will all season. Seems like juco transfer Mercedes Riggs should have gone through the "Vicki Krapohl summer workout" before she got here. Some may recall that Krapohl barely saw the court her frosh year and looked lost due to the combination of her lack of height and lack of athleticism. After putting herself through summer football drills, she came back much stronger and quick enough to stay on the court and make plenty of threes. Quickness is less a matter of natural athleticism and more a matter of agility and being able to start and stop, change directions, etc. - all things that the summer workout improved.

Jim3k
11-30-2014, 09:07 PM
...I don't really want to say it...but inconsistent reffing on the block-charge call...and some phantom calls...were a major factor in this loss. At least that's how I saw it on TV. I can't say reffing caused the loss, but it meant the players didn't know what to expect. Plus, the timing of some of those calls killed whatever momentum was then underway. I didn't save my recording, but really, this reffing was terrible. We couldn't drive without drawing a charging foul, though there was little to no contact or where it should have been called as a blocking foul. Even Goestenkors had trouble with those calls. ... And the other way? Ha!

Still, Duke had its chances.

Duke had a 12 point lead at the half and should have won this thing by 24 or 25. Each missed layup in the second half seemed to lead to a layup the other way. Those are 4 point turnarounds. Yeah, the team should have been getting back better and their failure to do it well hurt. Of course, missing Elizabeth offensively handicapped our middle. Amber was pretty good defensively, but no threat to score. Oderah got into early foul trouble and, confused by the offensive foul calling, never got her confidence back.

In the second half TA&M shot 48%, most of which were layups. Duke shot 25% and many of the misses were layups. Duke also took a few forced/bad shots, which also led to fast break points for A&M. We had 15 turnovers to their 9, yet outrebounded them 48-37. I do think many of A&M's layups were allowed by our girls who feared the refs' calls. But A&M shot their inside shots well and we did not.

I know the news story and the announcers gave credit for the turnaround to A&M's press, but I don't think that is accurate. As John Wooden used to say: "Be quick, but don't hurry." Our women didn't heed that advice. If they had, this would have been a walkover, not a loss.

Key stats:

Points in the paint-DUKE 30,TAMU 26.
Points off turnovers-DUKE 4,TAMU 16.
2nd chance points-DUKE 18,TAMU 2.
Fast break points-DUKE 0,TAMU 18.

Kedsy
11-30-2014, 09:29 PM
What's wrong with Elizabeth?

Jim3k
11-30-2014, 10:39 PM
What's wrong with Elizabeth?

Sprained ankle, so they said.