After Saturday’s road loss to an unranked South Florida, the Duke women’s basketball team slipped four spots down to No. 14 in the latest USA TODAY Sports coaches poll on Tuesday.
The Blue Devils had lost twice in their first 12 games, but both of those came against teams currently within the top 10 (No. 2 South Carolina and No. 8 Maryland). Add in back-to-back wins against the Oklahoma Sooners and Kansas State Wildcats out in Nevada at the Ball Dawgs Classic, and head coach Kara Lawson and her team had built one of the nation’s strongest resumes.
Duke only managed 15 first-half points against the Bulls, trailing by 18 after two quarters, and it made fewer than 40% of its shots from the floor.
Despite the small slide, the Blue Devils stayed above No. 16 Georgia Tech and No. 17 North Carolina as the second-highest ACC team on the board.
Check out the complete USA TODAY Sports women’s basketball coaches poll below:
| Rank | Team | Record | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | UCLA | 12-0 | 771 (30) |
| 2 | South Carolina | 11-1 | 742 (1) |
| 3 | LSU | 14-0 | 686 |
| 4 | Notre Dame | 10-2 | 679 |
| 5 | USC | 11-1 | 646 |
| 6 | Texas | 12-1 | 630 |
| 7 | UConn | 10-2 | 562 |
| 8 | Maryland | 11-0 | 542 |
| 9 | Ohio State | 12-0 | 529 |
| 10 | Oklahoma | 11-1 | 497 |
| 11 | Kansas State | 13-1 | 460 |
| 12 | TCU | 12-1 | 433 |
| 13 | Tennessee | 11-0 | 367 |
| 14 | Duke | 10-3 | 349 |
| 15 | Kentucky | 10-1 | 315 |
| 16 | Georgia Tech | 13-0 | 303 |
| 17 | North Carolina | 12-2 | 274 |
| 18 | West Virginia | 10-2 | 245 |
| 19 | Michigan State | 11-1 | 200 |
| 20 | North Carolina State | 9-3 | 191 |
| 21 | Alabama | 12-1 | 149 |
| 22 | Iowa | 10-2 | 123 |
| 23 | Baylor | 11-2 | 113 |
| 24 | California | 13-1 | 83 |
| 25 | Michigan | 10-2 | 48 |
Dropped Out
No. 23 Iowa State
Receiving Votes
Ole Miss 26; Utah 19; Mississippi State 19; Vanderbilt 17; Illinois 15; Florida State 14; Nebraska 12; Iowa State 6; George Mason 1