As senior guard Ashlon Jackson put it, Duke women’s basketball is in the mud.
The Blue Devils, who entered the season as the preseason favorites to win the ACC title, dropped their fourth straight game in a 93-77 loss to No. 5 LSU and head coach Kim Mulkey on Dec. 4, their third matchup against a top-five opponent in the span of eight days.
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“We’re in the mud right now,” Jackson said following the loss to the Tigers. “That’s both physically and literally. It may feel bad right now, it may feel bad for all of us mentally, physically, but in March, we’ll be on and popping, and that’s something that I honestly can’t wait for.”
Duke jumped out to an early 14-point lead over LSU, but the Tigers used a strong second quarter to outscore Duke 31-19 for the halftime lead, a gap Duke was never able to close.
Despite the loss, Jackson called it the best game Duke has played all year. Mulkey agreed.
“That’s as good as I have seen them play all year,” Mulkey said. “They jumped on us like white on rice.”
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Duke now sits at 3-6 heading into its ACC opener vs. Virginia Tech on Sunday, Dec. 7, off to its worst start in its fourth season under head coach Kara Lawson. Duke’s six losses include its season opener to No. 16 Baylor (58-52), at South Florida (85-72) and both games in the Players Era tournament to No. 2 South Carolina (83-66) and No. 3 UCLA (89-59) with the Bruins without center Lauren Betts.
Perhaps the most glaring, though, is a 57-49 loss at an unranked West Virginia team that played the entirety of the second half with only five players after a scuffle led to multiple ejections.
“People may talk about our record or whatever, our team just wants to get better,” Jackson said. “The only way to do that is by playing the best teams.”
Despite the early adversity, Duke and Lawson were optimistic following the ACC/SEC Challenge matchup vs. the Tigers, largely due to the team’s competitive fire. Duke’s 77 points were its most against top-ranked opponents this season and it held LSU to a season-low 93 points while forcing 18 turnovers.
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“We have been inconsistent with our competitive mindset, that is a fact,” Lawson said. “That’s why I’m so optimistic is because I saw that tonight. … Once we do that consistently, we’re gonna put ourselves in a great position to win games.”
Duke knows it hasn’t started the season the way it wanted, but the Blue Devils are confident about what lies ahead come March.
“I think it will turn for us at some point, and I think we’ll look back on this stretch as a formative part,” Lawson said.
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Duke and Virginia Tech are set to tip off at 2 p.m. ET at Cassell Coliseum.
“We’re excited to start conference play,” Lawson said. “Everyone starts even, and we’re looking forward to that.”
“Our challenge now is can we bring that level of competitiveness to Blacksburg? That’s the challenge. And if we do, that’s gonna give us our best chance to win.”
Anna Snyder covers Duke for The Fayetteville Observer as part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at asnyder@usatodayco.com or follow her @annaesnydr on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Duke women’s basketball ‘in the mud’ after loss to LSU
