DUKE SCOUTING REPORT
Duke’s leading scorer is senior Jasmine Thomas, a 5′ 9″ guard who is averaging 14.9 points per game this season. Guard/forward Karima Christmas is second on the team with 9.2 points per game. Chelsea Gray is third at 8.7 As a team, they average 71.4 points per game. Their leading rebounder is Krystal Thomas with 8.5 a game. The Blue Devils’ three losses on the year: An 87-51 drubbing by No. 2/2 University of Connecticut, a 62-20 loss to No. 13/12 North Carolina, and then a 22-point 69-47 loss to No. 16/17 Maryland.
The two teams shared only two common opponents this season: University of Connecticut and Pittsburgh. The Huskies beat Duke 87-51 on Jan. 31 and DePaul 89-66 on Feb. 5. Both teams earned victories over Pitt. DePaul won 67-51 on Dec. 7 and Duke 93-55 on Nov. 24.
Starters Krystal Thomas at center and Allison Vernerey at forward are both 6-foot-5. That means they each have an inch on DePaul starters Katherine Harry and Felicia Chester, who are both 6′ 3″.
Of the four remaining teams in this region, Duke is the only one that isn’t in the Big East. They are in the ACC. Otherwise it’s DePaul, Connecticut and Georgetown.
HAMPTON RETURNS HOME
Junior Blue Demon Keisha Hampton returns to her old stomping grounds for tomorrow’s game against Duke. She was born in Philadelphia and attended the Philadelphia High School of Engineering and Science-just a couple blocks from Temple University’s Liacouras Center, where tomorrow’s game will be played.
“It’s a great feeling,” Hampton said. “It’s a feeling I wouldn’t trade for the world. Being across the street from a school that I played at for four years, having friends and family here, it’s just a great feeling. It’s unexplainable.”
Bruno, who mentioned her homecoming after last week’s game against Penn State, hasn’t shied away from it.
“The first thing we did when we got on the bus yesterday was drive by her high school,” he said. “I wish we could have arrived earlier so we could have taken her in and practiced on her old court.”
Hampton said she expects to have 30-40 friends and family in the stands, some of whom haven’t seen her play in awhile. But their presence doesn’t distract her much anymore.
“I try not to think about it, but it crosses my mind some. I mean you always wanna perform well in front of people who haven’t seen you play in years,” she said. “I just wanna do well for them. I don’t think about that too much anymore. I think I thought about that probably my freshman year, when I came home from Villanova one time my freshman year. I was so excited, I just wanted to play so well I felt added pressure. Now I’m fine. I’m ok now.”
As for that high ball screen Hampton ran with Felicia Chester that was so successful in the last game, Hampton said it was up to Bruno whether they used it again.
“Whatever coach calls,” she said.
TAYLOR PIKES’ INJURY
Big East sixth man of the year Taylor Pikes is unofficially questionable for tomorrow’s game after suffering an injury against Penn State last Monday. With 1:08 remaining in the first half, Pikes hobbled off the court with her arm around someone’s shoulder for support, putting no pressure on her right knee. She returned to the bench in the second half with what looked like an ice wrap around that right knee, but did not play the rest of the game.
During the first 15 minutes of practice today, Pikes was in uniform, but wore a type of knee brace. She did not actively take part in any of the drills.
Per NCAA regulations, coaches are not allowed to publicly comment on a player’s injury unless that player has signed a waiver agreement.
My hunch is that Pikes doesn’t play tomorrow, but let me be clear-that’s not coming from any players or coaches. It’s just based on what I’ve seen. Look for China Threatt to pick up those minutes like she did against Penn State.
MORE FROM BRUNO, PLAYERS
Said Head Coach Doug Bruno of this Duke team: “They’re a great defensive team, they’re a very athletic team, they’re long, they’re very very strong defensively,” Bruno said. “The standard line is, if they don’t score on their defense, they’re not gonna score. That’s true, but they still have enough talent. They’ve only lost three games. I mean, other than their UConn fiasco, they have really done a great job this year.”
That fiasco, as Bruno called it, was a 36 point road loss on Jan. 31.
Keisha Hampton was also asked about Duke as a team.
“Great team. Athletic; quick; size; on the defensive end they’re relentless,” Hampton said. “The way they pressure. They’re just a great team. It will be a close game. They’re a team that doesn’t go away, obviously we’ve seen that in the Marist game. But Duke is obviously a great team.”
China Threattm whose role off the bench will be especially vital if Taylor Pikes can’t go said they are a fast-paced team, similar to DePaul.
“From what I’ve seen, their guards want to get the ball up quick and push tempo like us,” Threatt said. “So we just got to get our running game and stuff straight and make sure we contain their players too.”
FROM THE OTHER SIDE
In today’s press conference, Duke Head Coach Joanne McCallie was asked what it was like to play DePaul.
“Defending DePaul is very tricky because of their ability to go inside-outside with 3-point shooting in the transition,” she said. “We need to be on that big time. We are going to have ot limit them in transition, keep them out of the paint, no layups, no 3s, and do an inside out defense. They’re balanced, very balanced, and a very strong team.”
In the Blue Demons’ last tournament game, They trailed Marist at the half by five, and fell behind by 11 at one point, only to fight back and take the lead with 2:27 remaining.
“We could have played like that the whole game,” said Karima Christmas. “We waited for the last second to pull through and get a lead over them. Obviously, we have to execute from the beginning of the game to the end of the game and not make it a point where we have to go down there and get every stop and then execute on the other end and can just play comfortably with each other, just like we did in the last five minutes.”
Overall, McCallie seemed happy with where the offense was, despite the struggles against Marist.
“Our numbers are sky high right now,” she said. “Our shooting percentage is the highest it’s ever been. Our scoring is the highest it’s ever been. Our assists are the highest they’ve ever been and our turnovers are as small as they’ve ever bee. So we need that trend to continue in order to advance in this tournament.