The Duke women’s basketball team coasted into Tampa this weekend after eight wins in its last nine games, but the underdog South Florida Bulls put the Blue Devils on their back foot from the opening buzzer.
Head coach Kara Lawson and her squad failed to put double-digit points on the board in either of the first two quarters, creating a halftime deficit too big to overcome in the 65-56 loss to USF.
Duke made just three shots from the floor over the first 10 minutes, experiencing multiple four-minute scoreless spells that dropped the Blue Devils down by 14 points through one quarter of the contest.
Those stats might make it sound like poor shooting is to blame for the early lull, but the Duke offense just couldn’t keep its hands on the ball. The Blue Devils gave the ball away eight times in the first quarter, part of 14 turnovers for the afternoon that created 11 South Florida points.
The efficiency didn’t improve in the second frame, and it felt like South Florida was playing an entirely different sport given its offensive firepower. USF knocked down contested shot after contested shot, finding nylon on stepback 3-pointers and fadeaway jumpers at eyebrow-raising pace.
It all added up to a 33-15 halftime lead for the Bulls, and even with Duke scoring 41 points after the break, South Florida wouldn’t relinquish the advantage far enough. USF only took nine 3-pointers for the game, but it made five of them, and Sammie Puisis and L’or Mputu combined for 40 points just between the two of them.
Freshman forward Toby Fournier came off the bench for 11 points, the only Blue Devil to end the day in double digits. The Bulls shot 46.0% from the floor to Duke’s 38.9%.
Duke won’t play again until after the turn of the calendar year, but even with an extended break to ruminate on Saturday’s upset, the non-conference schedule met expectations for the Blue Devils. Lawson’s squad will start ACC play as one of seven teams with 10 wins already after the 10-3 start.
