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Women's Basketball
vs Baylor
Jaida Patrick, Jada Claude, Jennifer Ezeh, Azana Baines
Photo by: Duke Athletics
Freshmen Ready to Contribute
11/8/2019 6:19:00 AM | Women's Basketball
By Jim Sumner, GoDuke.com
DURHAM, N.C.-- Freshmen are supposed to be shy, deferential, maybe even a little intimidated.
Scratch that.
No one told Azana Baines, Jada Claude or Jaida Patrick they needed to patiently wait their turn.
The trio are Duke women's basketball's three freshmen; classmate Jennifer Ezeh will miss the season following surgery to repair a knee injury she suffered in high school.
According to Duke head coach Joanne P. McCallie, the threesome hit the ground running, determined to compete for playing time.
Patrick has an explanation.
"All of us were leaders on our high school teams and leaders on our AAU teams, so the transition was pretty easy. We weren't going to back down just because we were freshmen. Coach P has enforced the mentality that no one is ahead of anyone else just because of class."
Claude agrees.
"All three of us are just really ready to go. We all came in and set down with each other and we were never scared of the upperclassmen. We're going to make them better, they're going to make us better, we're going to make Duke better."
Assistant coach Wanisha Smith says their maturity was apparent from the beginning.
"They come ready to work every day. They're sponges. Tell them they've made a mistake and not have their heads down. They'll look you in the face, they'll work on it. It's all about being coachable and that's something they're doing. They came here in the summertime ready to go. Their teammates mentioned that about a hundred times while we were here this summer."
All three are versatile, mid-sized and athletic. But they all have areas where they stand out.
Baines is a 6-1 lefty from New Jersey. She loves to get to the rim and has some shake-and-bake in her game. Consider her the most likely to make the highlight reel.
"She's a shot-maker," McCallie says. "A go-to player. She can take people off the bounce. She's very creative around the basket, very offensively sound. Mature, smooth. Defensively, she's catching up to the speed of the game. Plays with a great deal of confidence. Smart, versatile, takes care of the ball pretty well."
Baines will play all over the perimeter.
Baines says she loves to have the ball in her hands and loves to facilitate.
"I'm a playmaker. I'm a driver. I like to penetrate the basket a lot and create, get my teammates open. It always came naturally. I've always been a team player."
Baines has six sisters, so she probably knows something about when to share and when not to.
Jada Claude might be the most intriguing player of the group. She's a 6-0 post player from Georgia. She may seem too small to play inside, but the results suggest otherwise. She averaged 14 rebounds and three blocks per game last season, to go along with 20 points per game.
Claude was a late recruit to Duke. She says "I was planning on going to another school but I'm a religious person and I prayed, and God told me that school wasn't for me. Duke came in and it was clear that Duke was for me."
"She's a workhorse," McCallie says. "She's a blue-collar player. She really gets after it. She gets loose balls. She can be aggressive, outwork people. She's strong. She's made a commitment to her strength. She's got a learning curve, but her instincts are excellent."
Claude says she knows how to use her lower-body strength to leverage inside position.
"I know how to use my speed, I'm lower to the ground so I can use that against them, jump into the body."
And she's not going to be outworked. She had 14 points and 12 rebounds in Duke's exhibition win against traditional Division II powerhouse Alaska-Anchorage and seven rebounds, a block and two steals in Duke's 93-57 opening-day win over High Point.
McCallie says Claude can play inside against ACC teams.
"Will it be a process to guard bigger players and things of that nature? Yes, but with that kind of aggression and that kind of nose for the ball, she's going to figure it out. She was excellent in our first exhibition in that regard and she was excellent again against Alaska-Anchorage. I'm saying her ability to do that against anybody is the point I'm trying to make. It's the size of the heart and the size of the pursuit of the ball more than your height."
Claude's blue-collar work ethic has impressed her teammates.
"She is willing to go the extra mile, to sacrifice her body to do what our team needs at that moment," Leaonna Odom sums up.
"She does all the intangibles," Kyra Lambert adds. "Every team needs somebody like that. She out hustles [everyone]. Everything our team needs, JC [Jada Claude] does."
Patrick is 5-10, another New Jersey native. Assistant coach Sam Miller says Patrick is the most equipped to guard 94 feet.
Great defense starts with desire and Patrick says she loves shutting down opposing guards.
"I love hard-working, in-your face defense. I can score the ball, but I can also assist, and I like to rebound. I know I'm a guard, but I like to get inside and rebound.
I hope that Coach P sees the potential in me and trusts me to play full-court defense." McCallie has noticed, saying that Patrick has "separated herself a little defensively."
Lambert calls Patrick "a force of nature" defensively.
The freshman trio came off the bench to give Duke 30 points, 21 rebounds and three steals against Alaska-Anchorage and certainly impressed their coach, Ryan McCarthy.
"I think they [Duke] had some ladies coming off their bench that want to get some time this year. Their pressure bothered us. . . a couple of the ladies that came off the bench were a little more athletic."
Like all freshmen, there are areas of concern. All three are solid one-on-one defenders but Duke runs different zones, traps and presses, so there's a learning curve there.
Turnovers? McCallie says "Just dribble less, dribbling into traps or into two people, and understanding the quickness of the game."
Assistant coach Jim Corrigan thinks their development could be crucial to this team's success.
"The freshmen have to continue to come along and figure out how they fit in. If we can develop that depth, we can be really good."
Graduate student Haley Gorecki is looking forward to that development.
"Yeah. It's been great. I think they have been learning and getting into things super well. They always ask questions which is good, and they bring energy, lots of energy so it doesn't drop which is good for us."
#GoDuke
DURHAM, N.C.-- Freshmen are supposed to be shy, deferential, maybe even a little intimidated.
Scratch that.
No one told Azana Baines, Jada Claude or Jaida Patrick they needed to patiently wait their turn.
The trio are Duke women's basketball's three freshmen; classmate Jennifer Ezeh will miss the season following surgery to repair a knee injury she suffered in high school.
According to Duke head coach Joanne P. McCallie, the threesome hit the ground running, determined to compete for playing time.
Patrick has an explanation.
"All of us were leaders on our high school teams and leaders on our AAU teams, so the transition was pretty easy. We weren't going to back down just because we were freshmen. Coach P has enforced the mentality that no one is ahead of anyone else just because of class."
Claude agrees.
"All three of us are just really ready to go. We all came in and set down with each other and we were never scared of the upperclassmen. We're going to make them better, they're going to make us better, we're going to make Duke better."
Assistant coach Wanisha Smith says their maturity was apparent from the beginning.
"They come ready to work every day. They're sponges. Tell them they've made a mistake and not have their heads down. They'll look you in the face, they'll work on it. It's all about being coachable and that's something they're doing. They came here in the summertime ready to go. Their teammates mentioned that about a hundred times while we were here this summer."
All three are versatile, mid-sized and athletic. But they all have areas where they stand out.
Baines is a 6-1 lefty from New Jersey. She loves to get to the rim and has some shake-and-bake in her game. Consider her the most likely to make the highlight reel.
"She's a shot-maker," McCallie says. "A go-to player. She can take people off the bounce. She's very creative around the basket, very offensively sound. Mature, smooth. Defensively, she's catching up to the speed of the game. Plays with a great deal of confidence. Smart, versatile, takes care of the ball pretty well."
Baines will play all over the perimeter.
Baines says she loves to have the ball in her hands and loves to facilitate.
"I'm a playmaker. I'm a driver. I like to penetrate the basket a lot and create, get my teammates open. It always came naturally. I've always been a team player."
Baines has six sisters, so she probably knows something about when to share and when not to.
Jada Claude might be the most intriguing player of the group. She's a 6-0 post player from Georgia. She may seem too small to play inside, but the results suggest otherwise. She averaged 14 rebounds and three blocks per game last season, to go along with 20 points per game.
Claude was a late recruit to Duke. She says "I was planning on going to another school but I'm a religious person and I prayed, and God told me that school wasn't for me. Duke came in and it was clear that Duke was for me."
"She's a workhorse," McCallie says. "She's a blue-collar player. She really gets after it. She gets loose balls. She can be aggressive, outwork people. She's strong. She's made a commitment to her strength. She's got a learning curve, but her instincts are excellent."
Claude says she knows how to use her lower-body strength to leverage inside position.
"I know how to use my speed, I'm lower to the ground so I can use that against them, jump into the body."
And she's not going to be outworked. She had 14 points and 12 rebounds in Duke's exhibition win against traditional Division II powerhouse Alaska-Anchorage and seven rebounds, a block and two steals in Duke's 93-57 opening-day win over High Point.
McCallie says Claude can play inside against ACC teams.
"Will it be a process to guard bigger players and things of that nature? Yes, but with that kind of aggression and that kind of nose for the ball, she's going to figure it out. She was excellent in our first exhibition in that regard and she was excellent again against Alaska-Anchorage. I'm saying her ability to do that against anybody is the point I'm trying to make. It's the size of the heart and the size of the pursuit of the ball more than your height."
Claude's blue-collar work ethic has impressed her teammates.
"She is willing to go the extra mile, to sacrifice her body to do what our team needs at that moment," Leaonna Odom sums up.
"She does all the intangibles," Kyra Lambert adds. "Every team needs somebody like that. She out hustles [everyone]. Everything our team needs, JC [Jada Claude] does."
Patrick is 5-10, another New Jersey native. Assistant coach Sam Miller says Patrick is the most equipped to guard 94 feet.
Great defense starts with desire and Patrick says she loves shutting down opposing guards.
"I love hard-working, in-your face defense. I can score the ball, but I can also assist, and I like to rebound. I know I'm a guard, but I like to get inside and rebound.
I hope that Coach P sees the potential in me and trusts me to play full-court defense." McCallie has noticed, saying that Patrick has "separated herself a little defensively."
Lambert calls Patrick "a force of nature" defensively.
The freshman trio came off the bench to give Duke 30 points, 21 rebounds and three steals against Alaska-Anchorage and certainly impressed their coach, Ryan McCarthy.
"I think they [Duke] had some ladies coming off their bench that want to get some time this year. Their pressure bothered us. . . a couple of the ladies that came off the bench were a little more athletic."
Like all freshmen, there are areas of concern. All three are solid one-on-one defenders but Duke runs different zones, traps and presses, so there's a learning curve there.
Turnovers? McCallie says "Just dribble less, dribbling into traps or into two people, and understanding the quickness of the game."
Assistant coach Jim Corrigan thinks their development could be crucial to this team's success.
"The freshmen have to continue to come along and figure out how they fit in. If we can develop that depth, we can be really good."
Graduate student Haley Gorecki is looking forward to that development.
"Yeah. It's been great. I think they have been learning and getting into things super well. They always ask questions which is good, and they bring energy, lots of energy so it doesn't drop which is good for us."
#GoDuke
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