Few schools have seen as many postseason basketball legends as the Duke Blue Devils. I mean, five national championships speak for themselves.
If you’re looking for the next Durham player to etch their name into school lore, you may not need to look much farther than junior guard Reigan Richardson.
Duke’s leading scorer this season, Richardson averaged about 11.5 points per game through the ACC Tournament. She’s dialed everything up a notch since March Madness began, however.
As the No. 7 seed in the Portland region, the Blue Devils looked like they were on full upset alert through the first two quarters of the opening round. Duke fell behind against No. 10 Richmond, trailing the Spiders 37-28 at the midway point.
Instead of succumbing to the potential loss, however, Richardson scored 12 points in the second half to lead Duke’s returning surge. The Blue Devils outscored the Spiders by 20 points over the final 20 minutes to keep dancing.
The second-half revival looks even better as of Sunday after Richardson and the Blue Devils erased a 16-point first-half deficit to stun No. 2 Ohio State and advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time in six years.
Everywhere you looked during the statement win, there was Richardson. The junior scored 28 points, including 10 in the final quarter, to lead the upset effort.
Through two games in this year’s edition of March Madness, Richardson is shooting 21/36 (58.3%) from the floor and 5/8 (62.5) from 3-point range. She’s averaging 26.5 points per game while no other Blue Devil has scored more than 27 points total.
In fact, Richardson’s 53 points against the Spiders and Buckeyes represent 36% of Duke’s total scoring. She, all by herself, scored more than one-third of the Blue Devils’ points through eight quarters.
On top of that, Richardson came down with seven rebounds in both games. She even generated three steals against the Buckeyes on the defensive end, and she’s only turned the ball over three times.
This is Duke’s 17th trip to the Sweet 16 since 1998, but the Blue Devils have never won two tournament games while seeded lower than fifth in their region. In fact, they’ve only been lower than a No. 4 once, when they were a 5-seed in 2018.
It’s not an exaggeration to call Sunday’s win the biggest upset in program history, and people who score 28 points in the biggest upset in school history deserve their place in program lore.
Those who have watched legends like Christian Laettner pass through Durham over the last four decades have been spoiled by some excellent postseason basketball. Despite the numerous accolades and banners, however, few players have ever propelled their team through the first two rounds quite like Reigan Richardson has in 2024.