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The Turnaround
4/7/2020 7:41:00 AM | Women's Basketball
By Jeff Friday
DURHAM, N.C.-- Going into the 2019-20 women's basketball season, Duke had one main goal. Although it may have been an unconventional route to reach that goal, they did everything they could to accomplish it.
"Our goal was to go as far as we can," graduate guard Haley Gorecki said. "We always talked about our ending goal being to be one of the top teams in the ACC and finishing strong. We want to battle against the toughest teams in the nation. We had expectations to do big things and we (reached) a spot to do that."
As cliché as it sounds, the Duke women's basketball team had a tale of two seasons — the first 15 games and the last 15. The Blue Devils (18-12) closed the truncated 2020 campaign as one of the hottest teams in the country. After opening the 2019-20 season 7-8, Duke went on a tear to end the regular season, winning 11 of its last 14, before falling to Boston College in the ACC Tournament to close the year.
If you took a game from each half of the Duke women's basketball season, odds are they would look very different. Sure, first-team All-ACC member Gorecki would score 20+ in almost every game, but the result could vary.
On Jan. 9, Duke suffered its eighth loss of the season, a 66-63 fault to Virginia in its 15th contest of a 30-game season. Gorecki had 27, five assists and six steals but turnovers plagued the Duke offense, coughing up 28 to the Cavaliers.
The Blue Devils moved to 7-8 overall, 1-3 in ACC play and had lost their last five in a row. The future seemed gloom, but there was no panic among the Duke players. They knew their goals and trusted the work that they had put in for the season.
Duke showed, at times, that they could play with the best. In conference play, the Blue Devils were 1-3 midway though the season but had lost all three games by 10 points combined, including a five-point loss at No. 7 Louisville. Each game was close, so you could feel that the team was on the cusp.
Following the game at Virginia, the Blue Devils hung on to win two consecutive conference games before another disappointing, close loss at Clemson. Close games seemed to be the story for Duke, seeing six straight conference games decided by five points or less.
"Obviously we are upset and mad after losses," Gorecki said. "But, there was a sense of knowing we were right there."
In the moment, nothing was different for Duke after the loss at Clemson. Looking back, it is easy to pick that point as the turning point of the season. After the game, Duke was 9-9 with 11 regular-season games to play. But the Blue Devils would go on to win nine of those last 11.
What sparked the Duke change? To go from 7-8 to 18-11 overall is quite a jump. It wasn't overnight but a season-long process of getting Duke to where they wanted to be. It took patience, waiting for key players to find their groove and return from injuries and trusting the work that they had been putting in before the season. Different wins throughout Duke's back half of the season highlight the differences from the first half to the second half of the season.
The following Thursday after the Clemson loss, the Blue Devils travelled to upstate New York to take on Syracuse in the Carrier Dome. Duke came out with an agenda and controlled the game from start to finish. Everything clicked.
"Everyone keeps saying that there was a turning point, but I don't think so," Gorecki stated. "We knew how good we could be the whole year, everyone was just not playing at their full potential. We obviously knew, but it was our mentality to change that."
Duke showcased its depth in the game versus the Orange. Led by Leaonna Odom's 13th double-double of the season, Duke defeated Syracuse, 88-58. The Blue Devils scored 31 bench points that evening with Mikayla Boykin scoring 15 points, all in the first half, and going 5-for-5 from three.
"I think we have a deep bench," Gorecki added. "Everyone is ready to play when Coach P calls upon them to get in the game. Which is really nice because in tournament games can go deep into the bench."
The development of Duke's bench, partly due to Boykin returning to the squad midway through the year, became a staple of the Blue Devils identity. Even with Gorecki and second team All-ACC honoree Odom leading the team, multiple players stepped up to the challenge throughout the season to contribute to Duke's success on the floor.
"When you have Mikayla coming off the bench, that's just crazy to me because she could be a starter," Gorecki added. "Having her be our sixth man and bringing that energy, nothing changes for us on the court. Melia (Goodchild) coming in and knocking down shots. Having a pure shooter is awesome. Z (Azana Baines) is a killer. She boards like crazy. I can go down the line forever and everyone brings something to the team. We don't dip at all."
Skip ahead to Feb. 24, Duke opened the last week of the regular season at NC State. The eighth-ranked Wolfpack hosted their annual Play4Kay game, honoring the late former NC State coach Kay Yow. After dropping the earlier meeting at the beginning of the month in Cameron by just three points, the Blue Devils were charged and ready to go.
Duke outplayed the Wolfpack across the board. The Blue Devils played a clean game, surrendering only eight turnovers while forcing 16 NC State giveaways. Sophomore Onome Akinbode-James turned in one of her best performances of the year, scoring 12 points, gathering six rebounds and snatching two steals.
It was the first Duke win over a top 10 team since a 66-58 win over No. 8 Louisville on Feb. 2, 2015.
"Coach P's message has never changed," Gorecki said. "She preaches defense which really helps us. She brings that energy and consistent voice to everything on the defensive end and the offensive end as well. She knew what this team could do and our potential."
The Blue Devils ended their regular season on the highest note possible — a 73-54 win over rival North Carolina. Duke went into Carmichael Arena and ran the Tar Heels out of the gym. Gorecki led the team to shoot 49.2 percent from the field and 47.1 percent from three. In addition, the Blue Devils tallied 14 assists and nine steals.
"The bottom line is we got better each game and I'm very proud of this team," head coach Joanne P. McCallie said after the win over North Carolina. "The story they've created coming from where we came from to third place in the league and not that many points out of first and second shows the leadership of Haley, Neah (Odom), Kyra (Lambert) and Emily (Schubert). If that isn't senior leadership, I don't know what is. We have done everything you are supposed to do."
Duke was playing its best basketball entering the postseason, feeling confident where they were. Finishing the season with wins in 11 of the last 14 games had the Blue Devils ready for the next challenge at hand.
"I'm looking forward to continuing to play our basketball," Gorecki stated. "Right now we are in a good stance and we have been playing super well. It's just bringing how we ended the regular season into the tournament."
After dropping their opening game in the ACC Tournament, the Blue Devils were awaiting their fate for the NCAA Tournament. Instead Gorecki, Odom, Schubert and Lambert would see their final year as Blue Devils come to an end without postseason action. The Blue Devils were nearly certain to compete in the NCAA Tournament, before the event was cancelled along with all winter and spring NCAA championships due to COVID-19 co
DURHAM, N.C.-- Going into the 2019-20 women's basketball season, Duke had one main goal. Although it may have been an unconventional route to reach that goal, they did everything they could to accomplish it.
"Our goal was to go as far as we can," graduate guard Haley Gorecki said. "We always talked about our ending goal being to be one of the top teams in the ACC and finishing strong. We want to battle against the toughest teams in the nation. We had expectations to do big things and we (reached) a spot to do that."
As cliché as it sounds, the Duke women's basketball team had a tale of two seasons — the first 15 games and the last 15. The Blue Devils (18-12) closed the truncated 2020 campaign as one of the hottest teams in the country. After opening the 2019-20 season 7-8, Duke went on a tear to end the regular season, winning 11 of its last 14, before falling to Boston College in the ACC Tournament to close the year.
If you took a game from each half of the Duke women's basketball season, odds are they would look very different. Sure, first-team All-ACC member Gorecki would score 20+ in almost every game, but the result could vary.
On Jan. 9, Duke suffered its eighth loss of the season, a 66-63 fault to Virginia in its 15th contest of a 30-game season. Gorecki had 27, five assists and six steals but turnovers plagued the Duke offense, coughing up 28 to the Cavaliers.
The Blue Devils moved to 7-8 overall, 1-3 in ACC play and had lost their last five in a row. The future seemed gloom, but there was no panic among the Duke players. They knew their goals and trusted the work that they had put in for the season.
Duke showed, at times, that they could play with the best. In conference play, the Blue Devils were 1-3 midway though the season but had lost all three games by 10 points combined, including a five-point loss at No. 7 Louisville. Each game was close, so you could feel that the team was on the cusp.
Following the game at Virginia, the Blue Devils hung on to win two consecutive conference games before another disappointing, close loss at Clemson. Close games seemed to be the story for Duke, seeing six straight conference games decided by five points or less.
"Obviously we are upset and mad after losses," Gorecki said. "But, there was a sense of knowing we were right there."
In the moment, nothing was different for Duke after the loss at Clemson. Looking back, it is easy to pick that point as the turning point of the season. After the game, Duke was 9-9 with 11 regular-season games to play. But the Blue Devils would go on to win nine of those last 11.
What sparked the Duke change? To go from 7-8 to 18-11 overall is quite a jump. It wasn't overnight but a season-long process of getting Duke to where they wanted to be. It took patience, waiting for key players to find their groove and return from injuries and trusting the work that they had been putting in before the season. Different wins throughout Duke's back half of the season highlight the differences from the first half to the second half of the season.
The following Thursday after the Clemson loss, the Blue Devils travelled to upstate New York to take on Syracuse in the Carrier Dome. Duke came out with an agenda and controlled the game from start to finish. Everything clicked.
"Everyone keeps saying that there was a turning point, but I don't think so," Gorecki stated. "We knew how good we could be the whole year, everyone was just not playing at their full potential. We obviously knew, but it was our mentality to change that."
Duke showcased its depth in the game versus the Orange. Led by Leaonna Odom's 13th double-double of the season, Duke defeated Syracuse, 88-58. The Blue Devils scored 31 bench points that evening with Mikayla Boykin scoring 15 points, all in the first half, and going 5-for-5 from three.
"I think we have a deep bench," Gorecki added. "Everyone is ready to play when Coach P calls upon them to get in the game. Which is really nice because in tournament games can go deep into the bench."
The development of Duke's bench, partly due to Boykin returning to the squad midway through the year, became a staple of the Blue Devils identity. Even with Gorecki and second team All-ACC honoree Odom leading the team, multiple players stepped up to the challenge throughout the season to contribute to Duke's success on the floor.
"When you have Mikayla coming off the bench, that's just crazy to me because she could be a starter," Gorecki added. "Having her be our sixth man and bringing that energy, nothing changes for us on the court. Melia (Goodchild) coming in and knocking down shots. Having a pure shooter is awesome. Z (Azana Baines) is a killer. She boards like crazy. I can go down the line forever and everyone brings something to the team. We don't dip at all."
Skip ahead to Feb. 24, Duke opened the last week of the regular season at NC State. The eighth-ranked Wolfpack hosted their annual Play4Kay game, honoring the late former NC State coach Kay Yow. After dropping the earlier meeting at the beginning of the month in Cameron by just three points, the Blue Devils were charged and ready to go.
Duke outplayed the Wolfpack across the board. The Blue Devils played a clean game, surrendering only eight turnovers while forcing 16 NC State giveaways. Sophomore Onome Akinbode-James turned in one of her best performances of the year, scoring 12 points, gathering six rebounds and snatching two steals.
It was the first Duke win over a top 10 team since a 66-58 win over No. 8 Louisville on Feb. 2, 2015.
"Coach P's message has never changed," Gorecki said. "She preaches defense which really helps us. She brings that energy and consistent voice to everything on the defensive end and the offensive end as well. She knew what this team could do and our potential."
The Blue Devils ended their regular season on the highest note possible — a 73-54 win over rival North Carolina. Duke went into Carmichael Arena and ran the Tar Heels out of the gym. Gorecki led the team to shoot 49.2 percent from the field and 47.1 percent from three. In addition, the Blue Devils tallied 14 assists and nine steals.
"The bottom line is we got better each game and I'm very proud of this team," head coach Joanne P. McCallie said after the win over North Carolina. "The story they've created coming from where we came from to third place in the league and not that many points out of first and second shows the leadership of Haley, Neah (Odom), Kyra (Lambert) and Emily (Schubert). If that isn't senior leadership, I don't know what is. We have done everything you are supposed to do."
Duke was playing its best basketball entering the postseason, feeling confident where they were. Finishing the season with wins in 11 of the last 14 games had the Blue Devils ready for the next challenge at hand.
"I'm looking forward to continuing to play our basketball," Gorecki stated. "Right now we are in a good stance and we have been playing super well. It's just bringing how we ended the regular season into the tournament."
After dropping their opening game in the ACC Tournament, the Blue Devils were awaiting their fate for the NCAA Tournament. Instead Gorecki, Odom, Schubert and Lambert would see their final year as Blue Devils come to an end without postseason action. The Blue Devils were nearly certain to compete in the NCAA Tournament, before the event was cancelled along with all winter and spring NCAA championships due to COVID-19 co
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