November 11, 2013

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november 11, 2013

DARBI GRIFFITH/THE CHRONICLE

DAZZLING DEBUTS

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: OPENS SEASON WITH A WIN • MEN’S SOCCER: MAKES ACC TOURNAMENT

The Chronicle

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2 | MonDAY, noveMber 11, 2013

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Gray leads Duke to victory in homecoming

by Amrith Ramkumar The ChroniCle

BerKeleY, Calif.—The Blue Devils were able to use an impressive display of rebounding and senior guard play to earn a quality road win in their first game of the season. no. 2 Duke took advantage of crisp second-half offensive execution and consistency on the glass to defeat no. 9 California 70-58 on DUKE 70 Sunday in a rowCAL 58 dy environment at haas Pavilion in Berkeley, Calif. The Blue Devils finished with a 46-39 rebounding advantage against the physical Golden Bears and were led by a trio of senior guards, twotime All-American Chelsea Gray, Tricia liston and sixth player richa Jackson.

Gray finished with 22 points, five assists and four rebounds despite second-half foul trouble in her return to her home state and first regular season game since dislocating her knee at the end of last season. liston scored 11 of her 13 points in the second half and added 7 rebounds, and Jackson totaled 13 points on 6-of-7 shooting, coming up with several key baskets throughout the game. “i’m really proud of the team for a gritty effort,” head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “i was really happy for Chelsea, to be in her area and play so well

thanh-ha nguyen/The ChroniCle

California native Chelsea Gray scored 22 points and added five assists and four rebounds as the Blue Devils upended the Golden Bears. and lead like she did on the floor.” in a first half marked by tight foul calls, offensive rebounds and poor field goal shooting, both teams got off to slow starts before the Blue Devils (1-0) were able to use a 10-0 run to build a 24-12 lead with 6:30 left in the half following a putback by redshirt freshman forward

Amber henson. it was henson’s first regular season game since Dec. 20, 2011— she was sidelined by a severe knee injury and saw key minutes Sunday because of Duke’s foul trouble.

The Blue Devils were unable to sustain the lead, however, as California (1-1) responded with three consecutive 3-pointers

by three different players after a timeout.

An 11-0 run cut the deficit to one and allowed California to get right back in the game before the Blue Devils took a 30-25 lead into the locker room. Though the Blue Devils had slowed down the Golden Bears with their matchup zone, they were frustrated by the way the half ended.

“We tweaked some things, but i think more importantly the players were a little irritated with themselves,” McCallie said. “i thought it really came from them, and that’s important.”

The pace of the game increased at the start of the second half and Duke capitalized on a number of transition opportunities to build a 13-point advantage with 16:40 left in the game. A 3-pointer by liston initiated the offensive attack. The senior guard allowed Duke to have much better spacing with her aggressiveness. “i was just trying to play off the defense and see how they were playing me,” liston said. “A lot of times, they were overrunning me. it left lanes to the basket and i was just trying to stay attacking and get to the basket a little more.”

But the Golden Bears clawed their way back into the game, using a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to eight with 12:10 left.

They were led by senior guard Afure Jemerigbe, who finished with 16 points See W. BASKETBALL, page 8

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MEN’S SOCCER

coulter’s goal sends blue Devils to acc tournament

by Lucas Hubbard The ChroniCle

Duke has often lacked goal-scoring magic this season, but in a must-win game, an unlikely hero pulled a rabbit out of his hat in the nick of time.

Graduate student Tomas Coulter, starting at striker in place of the injured Alex Sauciac, scored the first goal DUKE 1 of his Duke career CLEM 0 with an acrobatic tally in the 78th minute.

Coulter’s goal held up, and the Blue Devils secured the seventh seed in this year’s ACC tournament with a 1-0 win against Clemson Friday at riggs Field. “it’s a scary game out there,” head coach John Kerr said. “We were thinking a draw might [qualify us], but... to be able to say to the team, ‘Win and you’re in’—that was a nice feeling.”

By defeating Clemson (10-6-2, 5-4-2 in the ACC), Duke (8-4-6, 3-3-5) will square off with no. 1 notre Dame Tuesday in the ACC quarterfinal.

Coulter, a big target that the Blue Devils look for in the aerial attack, managed to connect off a long ball from midfield. Sean Davis provided the service and luis rendon headed a bouncing ball down for Coulter. The Stocksfield, england native then deftly swung his right leg up over his head to knock the ball past a diving Andrew Tarbell.

For a striker making his season debut in

the scoring column, it was a sublime finish and even better timing.

“Complete shocker,” Kerr said. “he’s scored a lot of goals in practice with his head and volleys, but to score a goal and be that coordinated to do that—it was a special moment for that young man.”

Just two minutes later, the Blue Devils suffered a bad break as sophomore defender Zach Mathers received his second yellow card for a late tackle on the right wing against Austin Burnikel. Duke was forced to play a man down for the remainder of the second half, but despite constant pressure from Clemson, the Blue Devils were able to buckle down and weather the storm.

Goalkeeper Alex long made four saves on 11 Clemson shots to earn his seventh shutout of the season.

The Blue Devils will be without Mathers for their ACC quarterfinal match per nCAA rules. Despite the bookings and the subsequent suspension, Kerr was pleased with Mathers’ energy in the second half.

“The game was hanging in the balance, and there was so much at stake with every touch and every opportunity that we told Chachi if he feels good... to carry the ball forward,” Kerr said. “We love that because… it puts the pressure on their defense because they’re not expecting it, and it really adds another spice to our offense.” entering the game, Duke needed a win to guarantee its place in the ACC tournament

PhilliP catterall/ChroniCle File PhoTo

Graduate student Tomas Coulter scored the first goal of his Duke career as the Blue Devils knocked off Clemson 1-0 to secure an ACC tournament berth. next week. Battling on the road against a Clemson squad who had only yielded 16 goals all season, the Blue Devils certainly had a difficult task to make headway in the final third. opportunities were scarce for both the Blue Devils and Tigers in the first half. Duke outshot Clemson 6-4, but goalkeeper Alex long was the first half MVP, coming up with two difficult saves on Clemson leading scorer Thomas Mc-

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namara to keep the game scoreless. in the 27th minute, long dove to his left to parry a Mcnamara shot wide for a one-handed save. later in the half, Mcnamara demonstrated fancy footwork on consecutive runs through the final third, but when he finally broke through and had a look at goal, long

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4 | MonDAY, november 11, 2013

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Parker, Hood shine in Duke debuts

by Matt Pun The Chronicle

It didn’t take long to see what all the hype was about.

Freshman Jabari Parker and redshirt sophomore Rodney Hood combined for 44 points—including 29 in the first half—to put Davidson behind early in Duke’s season-opening win, 111-77 Friday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

With the two new Blue Devils leading the way, four Duke players registered 20-plus point totals for the first time in program history.

“After we played Drury… I said when you play Drury, you don’t know who scored. They just scored, and I think our team was like that tonight,” head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “They just shared the ball quickly and scored pretty fast.

And all of a sudden you got points. You got 59 points in a half.”

Against the Wildcats (0-1), the No. 4 Blue Devils (1-0) wasted no time showing they could put points on the board against the smaller Davidson lineup.

Parker opened the scoring with a jump shot and Duke hit its first five field goals attempts.

The Blue Devils’ two 6-foot-8 forwards did not let up on the gas. Parker shot a perfect 5-of-5 from the field in the first half, and Hood missed just one of his seven field goal attempts.

Six minutes into the contest, Duke had built just a four-point lead, having struggled to prevent the drive without committing a foul. Starting forward Amile Jefferson had picked up his second foul just four minutes into the game and sat out the rest of the half.

But when Hood and Parker kicked the tempo up a notch, the Wildcats could not keep up. With Jefferson out, Krzyzewski opted for a smaller lineup, featuring Hood and Parker at the four

and five positions that helped Duke push its attack.

“Amile was in foul trouble so we had to go small, and get some scoring options,” Hood said. “We may do that sometimes, just to go faster up and down the court.”

At the 12:59 minute mark, Hood scored to reach nine points for the game and spark a 19-4 run.

Parker followed suit. The freshman caught the ball on the perimeter, pump faked, regrouped and calmly knocked down the three, yelling, “That’s all day,” as he ran down the court.

“Our fans played a big role,” Parker said of the team’s performance in his debut. “We just fed off their energy. It was just so great playing in Cameron, getting the crowd, the whole emotion. And we showed the product out on the floor.”

Feeding Parker or Hood each time down the floor, the Blue Devils opened up opportunities on the perimeter. Sulaimon knocked down 2-of-3 3-pointers and racked up 10 points in the first half. Cook took advantage of the openings as well, scoring eight first-half points and dishing out five assists in the period as Duke went into the break leading 59-39 on 71.4 percent shooting. In addition to their scoring efficiency, the Blue Devils turned the ball over just once in the period.

Although preseason Southern Conference player of the year De’Mon Brooks scored 24 points on 7-of-9 shooting, and guard Tom Droney added 16 for the Wildcats, Duke maintained a double-digit lead throughout the second half.

The 6-foot-7, 230-pound Brooks presented a challenging matchup for the Blue Devils, and playing with four Davidson guards to dish to, the forward often had 1-on-1 matchups with Hood and Parker.

“He’s an ox down there,” Hood said.

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“He’s strong, he’s built, he takes his time in the post, and he makes you guard him. He’s a really good player.”

Because of Davidson’s potential to get back in games through 3-point shooting, Duke strategically held back help on Brooks, giving him better opportunities to score in the paint, Krzyzewski said.

The tactic worked. The Wildcats shot just 3-for-21 from beyond the arc on the night.

Offensively, Parker and Hood kept filling out their stat sheets, but it was Cook and Sulaimon who took on even greater offensive roles to keep Davidson out of the contest—combining for 23 second-half points.

Sulaimon also contributed on the boards, recording seven rebounds— good for second on the team behind Hood’s nine.

“Rasheed had a heck of a game,” Krzyzewski said. “There was a thing that With some of Duke’s forward struggling due to foul troub we went to with Rasheed that they had a hard time stopping. He either scored or he got his teammate a bucket. It was kind of a little like the Ohio State game [last fall]…. There was just something that he had going that made the whole team better.”

With just 10 minutes remaining in the second-half and Duke leading comfortably 79-60, Parker got the crowd back on its feet. Resetting the offense, Cook backed away from the perimeter and floated a pass toward the weak side of the rim, where a loosely guarded Parker through down an authoritative alley-oop dunk for the most exciting two of his 22 points on the night.

“The first win is very important,” Parker said. “We can build blocks from there. I think that we have a good foundation right now, and we just keep on going and building the biggest tower we can build.”

70.4%

The Blue Devils turned in their best shooting performance since 1985 by shooting 70.4 percent from the field.

68.8% Shooting 1.6 lower from the free throw line than it did from the field, Duke made just 22-of-32 free throws. darbi griffith/The Chronicle

Freshman Jabari Parker scored 22 points in his first collegiate game as the Blue Devils defeated Davidson at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

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77

Guard play sparks Blue Devils’ offensive explosion amid foul trouble

by Bobby Colton The Chronicle

darbi griffith/The Chronicle

ble, it was guard play that ruled the day.

4 TO

MonDAY, november 11, 2013 | 5

Duke’s performance Friday night was nearly perfect.

The No. 4 Blue Devils shot 70.4 percent from the floor en route to a 111-77 win against Davidson—the team’s best single-game shooting performance since 1985. Four players eclipsed the 20-point plateau for the first time in program history. The team committed just four turnovers all night, and starting point guard Quinn Cook registered an 8:0 assist-to-turnover ratio. The Blue Devils (1-0) connected on 13 3-pointers, shooting at a 61.9 percent clip.

But nearly is the operative word.

Some of the preseason concerns with Duke’s personnel manifested themselves early against the Wildcats (0-1)—namely foul trouble. Starting big Amile Jefferson was the first culprit, picking up two fouls in four minutes, which relegated him to the bench for the final 16 minutes of the first half.

“A little bit too much intensity,” Jefferson said when asked about what contributed to his early fouls. “Wanting to get the ball at all costs, not wanting your man to score on you. It’s a learning step for me, and it’s something that I have to avoid.”

Jefferson wasn’t the only man in foul woes. The first big man off the bench, senior Josh Hairston, had his own trouble, collecting three fouls in a one-minute span early in the second half. Freshman forward Jabari Parker picked up his third foul just 2:15 after halftime.

Born out of the foul trouble of Duke’s big men was a rebounding deficiency and trouble defending the interior. Jefferson and Hairston combined to play 21 minutes, but neither recorded a sin-

gle rebound. Despite starting the three tallest players on the floor, the Blue Devils were out-rebounded 31-27, which is even more surprising considering Duke missed just 16 field goals.

Defensively, preseason Southern Conference Player of the Year De’Mon Brooks feasted in the paint against the Blue Devils. The forward used his 6-foot7, 230-pound frame to bully his way to 24 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the floor and 10-for-12 from the charity stripe.

But this apparent shortcoming may be just a tactical ploy by head coach Mike Krzyzewski.

“We didn’t want to over-help with [Brooks],” Krzyzewski said. “Because if he did score it was two points—although they add up too—but they don’t add up as much as the threes.”

The rebounding differential and leaky interior defense can be explained

by Duke’s use of a small-ball lineup. Featuring Parker and redshirt sophomore Rodney Hood as the team’s four and five, the Blue Devils were able to allocate more minutes to their talented wings.

“We play so many different lineups at so many different times,” Jefferson said.

“Guys are ready to play any position Coach puts them in. The versatility on this team is unbelievable.”

But small-ball isn’t just a lineup that will be employed against smaller teams like Davidson. It’s a lineup that Krzyzewski is comfortable going to against any team.

“That’s a lineup you’ll be able to see against a bigger Kansas team,” Parker said. “I think we’re, pound for pound, about the same height. They’re not drastically big either, so I think we’ll be able to use that as an advantage. Their forwards, we’ll bring them outside and let

Duke took exceptional care of the ball, turning it over just four times on the evening and registering 10 takeaways.

Darbi Griffith/The Chronicle

After sitting out Duke’s second exhibition game, Rasheed Sulaimon scored 20 points off the bench as the Blue Devils rolled.

Dayou Zhuo/The Chronicle

Despite holding a significant height advantage, Duke was outrebounded by Davidson. our guards come off screens so they can leave the bigs outside of the paint.”

The small-ball lineup is made possible by the exemplary play of Duke’s supporting cast, consisting of Cook, Tyler Thornton, Matt Jones and Rasheed Sulaimon. Cook scored 21 points on 7-of9 shooting to go along with his eight assists. Cook also only managed strong defense without committing the handcheck fouls that plagued him in Duke’s second exhibition game. Thornton, who earned the start next to Cook in the backcourt, led the team in plus/minus with a +29 finish.

Jones missed both of his 3-point attempts, but played hard-nosed defense, leading Krzyzewski to liken Jones to former Blue Devil defensive aces Tommy Amaker and Bobby Hurley in terms of the freshman’s preparedness to play defense at the college level.

After losing the starting battle in training camp to Thornton, Sulaimon finally blossomed into the player Krzyzewski has been waiting to see for the past few months.

“He has had a good week,” Krzyzewski said. “I think he’s finally in good shape.

He has not had a good fall.... He’s an explosive player, he’s a really good player.

We should expect him to play at the level that he played tonight. That was a big pick-me-up for us.”

Duke may not be as big or as physical as some of the other premiere teams in the NCAA this season, but what they do have is the athleticism and talent on the wings to make those big, physical teams pay. When Parker and Hood have the help of the Blue Devils’ role players, there will be plenty more results like the 34-point drubbing of Davidson.

“It’s amazing to have the talent and the versatility that this team does,” Jefferson said. “It makes it really special and really fun.”

6 | MonDAY, november 11, 2013

quarterbacks

from page 1

was the fact that the team’s once-prolific offense is now struggling. Thanks to the play of redshirt freshman safety DeVon Edwards, Duke’s defense and special teams accounted for 21 of the team’s points against the Wolfpack—the offense managed just 17.

After setting the program’s single-season scoring record last year, offense was never expected to be this team’s weakness. Coming into the season, all of the Blue Devils’ question marks were on the defensive side of the ball, and the unit’s stellar play has put all of those questions to rest in the past month.

“You know the saying: defense wins championships,” Crowder said. “This whole season, the defense has pretty much been carrying the load. Offensively we still have some things we want to get tuned up.

But hats off to the defense, they’ve been winning ballgames for us.”

Early in the second quarter, Duke had taken the ball over with a short field after its defense forced a turnover on downs, giving the Blue Devils great field position at the N.C. State 26-yard line. Boone and the Duke offense were able to move the ball just eight yards, setting up a Ross Martin field goal to put the Blue Devils ahead 10-0 with 8:14 remaining in the half.

Following that score, Duke’s next five possessions resulted in two punts, two interceptions and a kneel down to end the first half.

Even after Boone threw four picks against Virginia Tech, head coach David Cutcliffe stuck with his starting quarterback. But when he tossed three more in-

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terceptions against N.C. State, Cutcliffe pulled the plug and went with backup Brandon Connette, who had been relegated to spot duty since Boone’s return from a broken collarbone.

Connette coughed up the football at the end of a 20-yard run on his first series under center and Duke failed to score on its next two offensive drives. After allowing N.C. State to take a 20-17 lead, the Blue Devil offense finally woke up as Connette led the team on an eight-play, 79-yard drive capped off by a 5-yard Connette run to give Duke back the lead for good.

He finished the day 7-of-13 for 59 yards and carried the ball eight times for a teamhigh 40 yards.

“Throughout the entire game, things just weren’t going our way,” Connette said.

“It seemed like they weren’t going our way the whole game, and we knew how powerful and explosive our offense is. We knew at some point that something had to give, and we were able to get in a groove, get in a rhythm on that last drive and just march it down.”

Duke will need to put some points on the board if it hopes to contend with No. 24 Miami Saturday on Senior Day. But after reviewing tape of the Blue Devils’ matchup with N.C. State Sunday, Cutcliffe said his team’s quarterback future remains unclear.

“It’s going to take both of those guys for us to win, so you’ll see both of them,” Cutcliffe said. “We haven’t made any kind of decision or are overly concerned about the start and whatever, but we do believe right now that... we’re going to have to be looking at both of them to get us back where we need to be.”

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Anthony Boone struggled and threw three interceptions before he was replaced by backup Brandon Connette late in the third quarter.

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DeVon Edwards scored Duke’s first kick return touchdown since 2007.

eDWarDs

from page 1

the third quarter, edwards returned a niklas Sade kickoff for 100 yards, tying the record for the second-longest kick return in Duke football history.

But on the Blue Devils’ next defensive drive, edwards made a mistake that went largely unnoticed in his breakout performance.

After Wolfpack wide receiver Quintin Payton beat Breon Borders down the left sideline, edwards ran Payton down and had a chance to keep him from reaching the end zone—but missed the tackle. one quarter later, edwards intercepted two consecutive passes and took them back to the house. “i knew i made a mistake, and i knew i had

to give everybody respect,” edwards said. “So i knew i had to come back stronger. i couldn’t put my head down.”

With kicker ross Martin’s successful PATs, edwards singlehandedly beat n.C. State 21-20.

But if it weren’t for a series of events that whittled down Duke’s depth chart, edwards would most likely have not been on the field against the Wolfpack. edwards was primarily a running back in high school. he was named the offensive Player of the Year for his school’s league and set school records for all-purpose yards, total touchdowns and kickoff returns for touchdowns. Cutcliffe, however, moved edwards to defense upon arriving in Durham, and he redshirted during his first season. he came into this spring as the second cornerback on the Blue Devils’ roster behind redshirt senior ross Cockrell. Before the start of the season, edwards was beat out in training camp by fifth-year senior Garett Patterson and true freshmen Bryon Fields and Breon Borders. Cutcliffe moved edwards to safety, where he was listed behind redshirt sophomore Jeremy Cash and again faced an uphill battle to see the field.

Freshman Johnell Barnes was also named the top kick returner above edwards, even though edwards was named to Georgia’s allstate second-team in high school after averaging 41 yards per return his senior year.

“We’re all interchangeable throughout the secondary, but it was tough in the beginning,” edwards said. “i got a little frustrated.

But... they moved [ross Cockrell] around the defense too so he coached me through everything and told me ‘When in doubt, just play football.’” edwards registered two tackles in Duke’s

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season opener against n.C. Central, but didn’t make a mark on the stat sheet against Georgia Tech and Memphis. he registered two tackles again against Pittsburgh the next week playing on special teams, and returned his first kickoff for 12 yards against Troy.

But then the depth chart got dismantled.

Barnes broke his hand Sept. 29 in an altercation with a Duke lacrosse player, and edwards was named top returner against navy.

That same week, safety Deondre Singleton was suspended for missing academic obligations, opening up room for edwards on defense. edwards returned two kickoffs against the Midshipmen, one for 24 yards and one for 36, and notched two tackles.

The next week, norman, who had been already sidelined earlier in the season with a handspring injury, sprained his MCl against Virginia. Although edwards had been alternating between cornerback and safety for most of the season, norman’s injury forced edwards to move primarily to the safety position. edwards’ boosted playing time coincided with the Blue Devils’ most important contest in recent memory, against then-no. 16 Virginia Tech for their bowl-clinching sixth win. The redshirt freshman embraced the spotlight against the hokies, returning three kickoffs for a total of 49 yards and registering a career-high 12 tackles. little did edwards know, the light would shine brighter just two weeks later. edwards is now the only FBS player in the last 10 years with three non-offensive touchdowns in a game. he set the Duke freshman record for most points scored in a single game and is only the second player in nCAA history to return interceptions for touchdowns on

MonDAY, noveMber 11, 2013 | 7

back-to-back plays, joining former Duke cornerback leon Wright. “[edwards] is a humble young man, and he had a magic night,” Cutcliffe said. “it may never happen quite like that again, but it was a magic night. i’m happy for him. he’s the right type of person to have that type of night.” it would have been tough to predict a player who barely saw the field until his first collegiate start one game ago would be named the national Defensive Player of the Week.

But although he barely touched the field until recently, his teammates saw something in edwards in a more familiar setting—on the basketball court. edwards and junior Jamison Crowder played pickup basketball often last summer, and the wide receiver saw something in his teammate he said he’s been waiting for edwards to show on the gridiron all season. “it’s just natural athletic ability,” Crowder said. “When a guy has that and he’s a football player, that’s something you can’t coach. i knew that he had it and he was able to be in a position to take advantage of that.”

The Blue Devils take on no. 14 Miami next week in their final home game of the season. The hurricanes boast the thirdranked scoring offense in the ACC, tallying an average of 36.4 points per contest. it’s unlikely edwards can duplicate his performance against n.C. State, but Duke’s defense has a new weapon they can depend on to close out the season. “he’s a player we’ve been waiting for,” Crowder said. “he came out of his shell. We knew he had that talent… and he helped us get the win. it’s the first time i’ve ever been part of a team where something like that happened. it was crazy.”

W. basketbaLL

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8 | MonDAY, noveMber 11, 2013

from page 2

and seven rebounds and is Gray’s former high school teammate. The Blue Devils used a big run of their own to build a 64-47 advantage with 5:43 left in the game after a 3-pointer by Jackson, sending some California fans to the exits.

The Golden Bears had one final push left in them behind junior point guard Brittany Boyd. Boyd, an AllPac-12 selection a season ago, struggled throughout the game but scored six straight points to bring California within 11 with 3:04 left. Duke responded with an efficient offensive possession resulting in a Jackson layup to effectively put the game away. “richa is active, aggressive and she’s hungry,” McCallie said. “She’s ready to go. She’s really bought into her role as a senior, being a sixth player off the bench.

That can be sometimes dicey, not for her. i think she’ll

be the best sixth player in the country.”

Despite the offensive struggles of sophomore guard Alexis Jones and two-time All-American forward elizabeth Williams, Duke was able to manufacture enough scoring because of the aggressiveness of Gray, who earned her the seventh 20-point game of her career. “i was very excited to come home and have my family in the stands,” Gray said. “i was able to take the team to my house, we had an amazing dinner and they ate all our food. it was just really exciting and it was an excellent crowd. it really prepares us for down the road.”

With a difficult road win already under their belt, the Blue Devils will return to the court Thursday for their home opener against South Carolina Upstate.

“We like to be in a lot of sticky environments,” McCallie said. “That was good for us to have that experience. i think it goes a long way. it really goes [a long way] as long as we use it and are willing to learn from it.”

M. sOccer

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Senior Richa Jackson scored 13 crucial points off the bench for Duke in a 70-58 win.

sportswrap

from page 3

came off his line and was equal to the task.

The key for Duke defensively was shutting down Mcnamara, a gifted ballhandler who had seven goals and seven assists on the season, ranking seventh and third, respectively, in each category in the ACC. “We were very aware of him all game,” Kerr said. “he’s such a busy player that we didn’t want to have just one guy follow him.

So we had four guys communicate... and we were very aware of his whereabouts all the time. he is a special player and unbelievable ability, and fortunately we held him [scoreless].”

With the win, Duke improved its undefeated streak to eight games and its shutout streak to more than 194 minutes. As the postseason looms, the team is as dangerous as anyone, and its confidence is as high as it has been all season.

“We have belief in ourselves,” Kerr said. “We’ve proven we can hang with the best teams in the country and the best teams in our conference.”

weekendwrapup

BLUE DEVILS CONTINUE STREAK Duke volleyball extended its winning streak to eight games with back-to-back victories against Maryland and Pittsburgh.

DUKE FALLS SHORT TO MD

A two-goal comeback was not enough as Duke field hockey lost in overtime to No. 1 Maryland in the semifinals of the ACC tournament.

GRAY ON FAMILIAR GROUND With Duke women’s basketball opening its season in California, Chelsea Gray had a chance to return home and square off with a high school teammate.

ON TO REGIONALS

Duke cross country wraps up its regular season and looks ahead to the NCAA Regional Championships.

FRESHMEN IN THE POOL A new crop of Duke swimmers had some success at two weekend competitions.

Read all about it at dukechroniclesports.com

october 21, 2013

KEVIN SHAMIEH/THE CHRONICLE

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WITHIN STRIKING sportswrap DISTANCE october 28, 2013

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CHARLOTTESVILLE COMEBACK HAS DUKE 1 WIN FROM ANOTHER BOWL WOMEN’S SOCCER: UPSETS NO. 9 NOTRE DAME • MEN’S SOCCER: PICKS UP FIRST ACC VICTORY

BOWLY GRAIL

GATORADE SHOWERS RUNNETH OVER AS DUKE UPSETS VA. TECH

sportswrap november 4, 2013

THANH-HA NGUYEN/THE CHRONICLE

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LIGHTNING ROD-NEY MEN’S SOCCER: SHUTS OUT PITTSBURGH • VOLLEYBALL: MCCURDY SETS DIGS RECORD

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MEN’S BASKETBALL: ROUTS BOWIE STATE IN EXHIBITION • VOLLEYBALL: TAKES 1ST PLACE IN ACC

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