2024-25 DWBB Season

We briefly had sole possession of 2nd place in the ACC. The other one loss team is NCSU, and that won't change tonight. They are up 74-48 over VT in the 4th.

Guess who we play next? 😁
 
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Duke 55, Georgia Tech 50 (recap, box score, highlights, condensed game, presser)

Three different Blue Devils scored 12 points and Duke's defense turned in another stellar performance in a 55-50 victory at No. 18 Georgia Tech in ACC women's basketball action Sunday afternoon.

Taina Mair, Oluchi Okananwa and Delaney Thomas each finished the game with 12 points. Mair added five assists to her stat line while Thomas and Okananwa had eight and six rebounds, respectively. Toby Fournier also had eight caroms in the win.

Defensively, Duke held Georgia Tech to single-digit scoring in both the second and fourth quarters and to 1-of-20 from behind the three-point line.


According to the box score linked above, the attendance was 4,301 -- the second most for a WBB game in McCamish Pavilion this season, after the 6,386 who saw GT beat Clemson last week. (That game had the benefit of also celebrating Alumni Day, with past players on hand as the program celebrated its 50th anniversary.)

Duke WBB with the highlights...


... and postgame comments from Kara Lawson and Oluchi Okananwa.


Coach Lawson: "We're thrilled to get the win. Georgia Tech is an incredible team. It was just a grind-it-out game. We were working really hard defensively to try to just make sure that every look was contested... They have such a high-powered offense. We knew that would be a Herculean task. They've got shooters everywhere and really good guard play. We're trying to just challenge everything, and hope that we could push their efficiency a little bit lower than what's normal for them. I thought our defense just stood really tall, especially late. Hold them to 5 points in the fourth quarter, that's really hard to do...

We didn't have a great night offensively. That happens sometimes, typically on the road... I'm just so proud they stayed in it, they didn't hang their head, and they just kept fighting, and we got enough buckets late. I thought Oluchi [Okananwa] was key in the fourth quarter for us, made three straight baskets, when we were just really in need of someone stepping up to make a play. She stepped up on those three possessions and gave us enough separation..."

"I'm not going to complain. This defense held [Georgia Tech] to 50 points. They average 82 or 83. It was just a heck of a defensive effort by my players."


Oluchi Okananwa: "I feel like that I entered with the same mindset I always do whenever I come into a game, which is, how can I help my team, and most importantly, can I bring my motor, because I think that defines me a lot. For this game, just coming in with that energy and with that disruption, I was able to really help my team, which is what I want to do every game."

Georgia Tech has pressers of head coach Nell Fortner and double-doubling Zoesha Smith.


Coach Fortner: "I think that Duke is probably, maybe, the best defensive team in the country. They absolutely played phenomenal defense, and they did exactly what they needed to do to beat us. They shut down the people they needed to shut down. They let the people they needed to stay open for shots stay open, and Zoesha Smith had the best day of her career here at Georgia Tech. Good thing for that, because they really made it difficult for us to score anywhere else on the floor.

I thought our effort was phenomenal defensively. I thought we did a really good job to stop people that we needed to stop. Ashlon Jackson did not score, other than the free throw line... [Toby] Fournier [had] six points, I thought we did a really good job on her... they had some people that really stepped up in a big way. Oluchi [Okananwa] is just really a difficult one to guard. She's super fast and quick...

Offensively, it was just a tough day for us. Who's going to think that Dani Carnegie is going to shoot the ball like that [1-13 field goals, 0-9 threes] or it's going to be so hard for people to get shots? But that's Duke's defense, and I'll give them credit for that."
 
I don't disagree, but if you watch the elite teams, they make those shots far more often. If Duke wants to break back through that ceiling and rejoin the upper echelon, it's something that has to change. Those are not only missed points, but unless we get the rebound it's a borderline turnover. We've made some amazing progress over the past few years, but the misses under the basket have been a frustrating constant.
Perhaps coaches could teach better technique around the rim, particularly on second chance opportunities. So frequently women will attempt to capitalize on a offensive rebound putback attempt and be unable to elevate over the defender--with notable exceptions of course. They'll bring the ball down to their waists and the shot attempt never clears stationary defenders simply extending their arms. Part of this is athletic ability, leg strength and I guess center of mass works into the equation. But I would like to see more step-back or step-through shot attempts rather than players attempting a move they are simply incapable of executing.
 
Perhaps coaches could teach better technique around the rim, particularly on second chance opportunities. So frequently women will attempt to capitalize on a offensive rebound putback attempt and be unable to elevate over the defender--with notable exceptions of course. They'll bring the ball down to their waists and the shot attempt never clears stationary defenders simply extending their arms. Part of this is athletic ability, leg strength and I guess center of mass works into the equation. But I would like to see more step-back or step-through shot attempts rather than players attempting a move they are simply incapable of executing.
Those are all valid points. Another disadvantage for women under the basket is since their average height is less, the angle of the shot is sharper and more difficult to use the backboard effectively.

Last year one of our posters suggested that our center at the time should do the Mikan drill in practice, which teaches rebounding, step-through and lay-up skills. I think most teams use something like that at times. Its a fundamental skill.
 
Stats @ Georgia Tech

Here are the numbers from last night's game against the Georgia Institute of Technology Yellow Jackets at McCamish Pavillion in Atlanta, GA:

OFFENSE
Possessions: 63.3 (very slow, only our last game was slower)
oRtg: 0.869 (bad; adj. 0.978, or #116, just barely top third)
eFG%: 40.2% (terrible, only the Carolina game was worse)
3pt%: 25.0% (very bad)
2pt%: 40.8% (terrible, only the Carolina game was worse)
%three: 19.7% (very low, only South Dakota State, back in mid-November, was lower)
FT rate: 9.2% (terrible, second worst to the Columbia game)
OR%: 28.9% (terrible, again second worst, this time to Oklahoma)
TO%: 17.4% (very good)
a/to: 1.55 (outstanding)
%assisted: 73.9% (excellent)
fast break pts: 8 (14.5%) (solid)

DEFENSE
dRtg: 0.790 (outstanding; 0.539 adj., #1 easily, see below)
deFG%: 34.1% (excellent, amazingly, only our third best this year)
3pt%: 5.0% (stunning)
2pt%: 46.5% (pretty good overall, a more more than average for us)
%threes: 31.7% (pretty normal, but lower than their usual rate)
FT rate: 14.3% (excellent)
DR%: 56.1% (terrible)
TO%: 22.1% (fairly normal, but pretty low for us)
a/to: 1.0 (bad, only our fourth game 1.0 or higher)
%assisted: 66.7% (bad)
stl%: 6.3% (terrible, worst of the year)
blk%: 14.0% (good)
fast break pts: 2 (4.0%) (excellent)


This game was all about defense. Here's some idea of how good our defense has been: Our adjusted defensive rating in this game was roughly .150 (or about 20%) better than the #1 team in the country (currently, USC). But it still represents only the fifth best adjusted dRtg we have posted in this calendar year! That's right, this afternoon's game, as good as it was defensively (and it was a phenomenal defensive game), is ever-so-slightly below our median performance in 2025. We have turned into one heck of a defensive team, folks.

Unfortunately, this game was all about defense on both ends of the floor. We had one heck of a time cracking their code, and posted bad numbers in just about every possible area. We had our second lowest game in about 6 different offensive areas. We couldn't shoot at all well from two or from three, and for some reason we just could not grab the boards. Georgia Tech is a good rebounding team in general, but it's not like they're South Carolina. But that's how we made the look today. We lost the Battle of the Boards on both ends of the floor, and they won the total rebound battle by 11. In fact, because of that, this is only the third game this entire season where our opponent has been able to take more shots than we did. Interestingly, we've won all three (not that I'm suggesting we should make it a habit!).

And in the end, that's the bottom line: We won a very tough game against determined opposition playing on their home floor. We lost the lead in the fourth quarter, but we immediately tied it back up and then pulled ahead for good right after, and we did it on the opponents' home floor, showing that we can buckle down in a tight game and close it out.

We'll need some of that, because we face an even tougher opponent on their home floor a week from tomorrow. Time to rest up, recuperate, then train and be ready for a trip into Raleigh on Feb. 3rd.
 
At #17 NCSU next Monday night will be another tough one. It is the "Play For Kay" game and Reynolds Coliseum is completely sold out.
It will be a raucous crowd. I wonder if the team does anything to simulate crowd noise in practice.
 
Boohoo.

The baby blues have another tough game tomorrow night, playing #19 Cal in an away game. If you are a night owl, you can watch them at 10.
Unfortunately the Cheaterettes won handily. It looks like the game was close until the 18-7 fourth quarter. State also won, taking sole possession of 2nd place (at least temporarily). Monday night's game with the Wuffies is that much more important now.
 
Duke WBB plays at NC State on Monday 2/3 at 7pm ET on ESPN2 (streaming link, listen, live stats)

After wins at SMU and #20 Georgia Tech, the #10 Blue Devils play their third straight road game on Monday evening, driving to Raleigh to face the #17 NC State Wolfpack. The venue is the 5,500-seat Reynolds Coliseum, which is sold out for the annual Play4Kay game: "Former NC State head coach Kay Yow began the tradition in 2006, when one of the Wolfpack's home games was dedicated towards raising awareness and money for the fight against women's cancers. Donations made towards this cause go directly to the Kay Yow Cancer Fund."

NCSU head coach Wes Moore, now in his 12th season on the job, defied chalk tendencies last spring by getting to the Final Four as a 3 seed, defeating 2-seed Stanford and 1-seed Texas in a pair of 10-point victories. This year's squad was ranked #9 in the preseason AP poll, which Coach Moore said was too high: "I think everyone looks at our guards, especially [senior guards Aziaha James and Saniya Rivers] and think, 'Oh, wow, NC State is going to be really, really good,'" Moore said. "But we lost two really good players in River Baldwin and Mimi Collins, who are both playing overseas in Europe now professionally. Those are going to be big shoes to fill."

Baldwin and Collins brought size to last year's team, and their most likely frontcourt replacement, Boston University transfer Caitlin Weimar, had hip surgery and elected to leave the team in order to recover at home. (We can draw some parallels here with Duke, who lost Kennedy Brown and Camilla Emsbo to graduation, and then lost their most likely frontcourt replacement, freshman Arianna Roberson, to an injury that ended her season before it started.)

Unlike Duke, Coach Moore has a number of tall but previously unproven options still on his roster. Mallory Collier and Tilda Trygger have each occupied the post for most of this season's starts. According to Pack Pride, reserve center Lizzy Williamson had surgery for some undisclosed injury, and her recovery timetable is unknown.

PROBABLE STARTERS

5-10 senior guard Aziaha James #10 (16.9 pts, 4.8 reb, 2.8 ast, 1.2 stl)
5-10 sophomore guard Zoe Brooks #35 (13.3 pts, 4.4 reb, 4.1 ast, 1.4 stl)
6-1 senior guard Saniya Rivers #22 (12.1 pts, 6.0 reb, 2.9 ast, 1.7 stl, 1.1 blk)
6-0 grad guard Madison Hayes #21 (10.1 pts, 6.8 reb, 0.8 ast)
6-6 freshman forward Tilda Trygger #18 (5.7 pts, 3.8 reb, 0.4 ast)

TOP RESERVES

5-7 freshman guard Zamareya Jones #3 (8.8 pts, 2.1 reb, 1.9 ast)
6-3 sophomore center Mallory Collier #42 (4.1 pts, 2.9 reb, 0.2 ast)
5-11 freshman guard Devyn Quigley #0 (3.0 pts, 1.7 reb, 0.8 ast)
6-5 freshman center Lorena Awou #1 (2.8 pts, 2.3 reb, 0.1 ast)
5-11 sophomore guard Laci Steele #24 (1.8 pts, 0.9 reb, 0.2 ast)
6-2 sophomore forward Maddie Cox #11 (0.8 pts, 1.8 reb, 0.3 ast)

INJURED/OTHER

6-5 grad center Lizzy Williamson #15 (1.6 pts, 2.0 reb, 0.0 ast) -- surgery, return unknown

Despite lacking experience in the frontcourt, the Pack have done well this season, with a 17-4 overall record. Their only non-conference losses are to top 10 teams: #2 South Carolina and #7 LSU on neutral courts, and a then-unranked (but now #9) TCU on the road. Let's hope, for Duke's sake, that trend continues. They are 9-1 in the ACC, losing only to #19 California during their West Coast trip. NCSU does have an impressive 30-point win at Louisville from mid-December, but other than that, they have yet to play many of the league's strongest teams. Their most recent win was at Wake Forest, who are in last place, but have been playing teams close on their home floor (90-83: recap, box score, highlights, full replay).


Duke and NC State have similar shooting percentages and score about the same number of points, but the Wolfpack are fairly elite in avoiding errors, ranking 12th nationally in committing the fewest turnovers and 2nd in committing the fewest personal fouls. For more information, check out the tables below, incorporating stats from Sports Reference.

Bart Torvik sees Duke taking this one, 69-63.

CategoryNC State (17-4, 9-1 ACC)Duke (17-4, 8-1 ACC)
Points Scored76.0 (44th nationally)75.8 (47th)
Points Allowed63.3 (155th)58.1 (53rd)
Scoring Margin (NCAA.com)+12.7 (52nd)+17.7 (33rd)
Bench Points (NCAA.com)18.7 (166th)32.2 (5th)
Total Rebounds41.2 (23rd)40.4 (42nd)
--- Offensive Rebounds12.1 (143rd)15.3 (21st)
--- Defensive Rebounds29.1 (14th)25.3 (158th)
Assists13.7 (161st)17.4 (28th)
Assist/Turnover Ratio (NCAA.com)1.129 (47th)1.134 (45th)
Steals6.9 (279th)11.1 (29th)
Blocks4.1 (55th)4.5 (30th)
Turnovers12.1 (12th fewest)15.3 (119th fewest)
Personal Fouls12.1 (2nd fewest)16.8 (185th fewest)
Field Goal Percentage44.7% (62nd)45.3% (47th)
2-Point FG Percentage49.8% (75th)49.0% (96th)
3-Point FG Percentage33.9% (77th)35.3% (38th)
Free Throw Percentage66.5% (295th)66.9% (288th)
NET Ranking (NCAA.com)#23 (NET Summary)#8 (NET Summary)
--- Strength of Schedule31st3rd
--- Quad 1 record3-44-3
--- Quad 2 record2-06-1
--- Quad 3 record5-03-0
--- Quad 4 record7-04-0
T-Rank (Bart Torvik)#27 (T-Page)#8 (T-Page)

In October, the NCAA published a PDF file of frequently asked questions for the NET in women's basketball. Quadrants are defined on page 4:

Quadrant 1: Home 1-25, Neutral 1-35, Away 1-45
Quadrant 2: Home 26-55, Neutral 36-65, Away 46-80
Quadrant 3: Home 56-90, Neutral 66-105, Away 81-130
Quadrant 4: Home 91-362, Neutral 106-362, Away 131-362
 
This is going to be the game that tells us where we truly are as a team. Despite the difference in NET, T-Rank, and the polls, I think these are two pretty evenly-matched teams. The question I'll have going in is whether or not our defense has really improved as much as I think it has. If so, we can shut them down and I think we can win a slug-fest. If they can get their offense going, though, I think we'll be in for a real fight.
 
Perhaps coaches could teach better technique around the rim, particularly on second chance opportunities. So frequently women will attempt to capitalize on an offensive rebound putback attempt and be unable to elevate over the defender--with notable exceptions of course. They'll bring the ball down to their waists and the shot attempt never clears stationary defenders simply extending their arms. Part of this is athletic ability, leg strength and I guess center of mass works into the equation. But I would like to see more step-back or step-through shot attempts rather than players attempting a move they are simply incapable of executing.
Yep, for most going straight back up is almost impossible. If one on one or in a “loose” crowd I taught my high school girls to pivot slightly, get their off shoulder into the defender and then go up. In big crowds, a fake is necessary or in many cases just get the ball back out and start the O again. One year I had 3 posts over 6 foot - one D 1 and another small college. Two years later I started 2 post players who stretched out would maybe reach 5’7”. Same theory each time.
 
Another big game. I think the difference-maker will be one of the best coaches (and staffs, they have a lot to do with it) in the game having 8 days to scout and prep her team.
 
Another big game. I think the difference-maker will be one of the best coaches (and staffs, they have a lot to do with it) in the game having 8 days to scout and prep her team.
Speaking of which, something I really like about Kara is that she has gotten the stadium announcer to introduce all the Duke coaches, not just her, right at the end of player introductions. That's a classy move.
 
Duke WBB plays at NC State on Monday 2/3 at 7pm ET on ESPN2 (streaming link, listen, live stats)

...The venue is the 5,500-seat Reynolds Coliseum, which is sold out for the annual Play4Kay game: "Former NC State head coach Kay Yow began the tradition in 2006, when one of the Wolfpack's home games was dedicated towards raising awareness and money for the fight against women's cancers. Donations made towards this cause go directly to the Kay Yow Cancer Fund."

wbb20250203.jpg
(source)

Duke links: preview, PDF game notes
NCSU links: preview, PDF game notes

Beth Mowins (Lafayette basketball; bio) and Debbie Antonelli (NC State basketball; bio) have the call on ESPN2. If it's true that Antonelli has a bias toward State WBB (understandable) and a bias against Duke WBB (less so), then this is a double whammy.

NC State Athletics put out a video called The Story Behind Play4Kay last year, when they played Louisville. Tonight's matchup is the 20th Play4Kay game.

 
NCState up 3 spots to #14. Let's make a statement, ladies! If we take care of business this week (3 games) we should move into the top 8. I expect Ohio State and TCU to lose this week.

The ACC claims 7 of the top 22 spots. Wish the men could hold up their end of the basketball pride.

Edit: Stat To Know from espn: Duke has given up fewer than 60 points in 10 of its past 11 games, allowing an average of 51.1 points per game in that span.
 
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I'll be on mute for most of this game.
I recommend the Duke radio call guy, Chris Edwards, he's really good. The problem is I don't know how well it syncs with the video broadcast.

In other news, Toby has been 1 of 50 players named to the NPOY midseason watch list. Of course she's 2 or 3 years away from actually winning it. 😁

 
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