As described by Holly Tanneyhill of SBN's Swish Appeal, Duke Blue Devils coach Joanne P. McCallie didn't want to focus much on their 36-point loss to the Connecticut Huskies back in January.
However, it's not as though her disinterest in talking about changes the problem.
UConn Relies On Freshmen To Advance While Duke Just Wants To Forget The Past - Swish Appeal
The question remains on what has changed with Duke to allow them the ability to ‘punch back’ this time?Duke does routinely go 11 players deep and Connecticut’s short bench has been well chronicled. The issue is that with playing so many people Duke has a hard time maintaining any sense of offensive flow and that has led to their less than impressive numbers on the offensive end. Their Sahara-type droughts on the offensive end have been their Achilles heal with every loss this season, in addition to their come from behind victory over Marist in the 2nd round.
Early on in tonight's rematch against UConn it looked like the same problems would manifest themselves as Duke got down 10-4 early and couldn't seem to make a shot. And their 23.5 percent first half shooting is certainly nothing to get excited about and didn't help as they trail 30-20 at the half.
But Duke recovered by preventing UConn from getting second chance shots while hitting the boards hard themselves and winning the offensive rebounding battle 7 to 2. Nevertheless, with UConn shooting 48.3 percent, Duke is going to have to close the scoring efficiency gap to have a chance at a different outcome, independent of margin of victory.
One obstacle for Duke to hurdle on their quest for the Final Four, is that Maya Moore is leading the way 13 points, nine rebounds, and five steals. Her two first half fouls could help against a UConn team that goes only six deep, but Duke will have to stay aggressive in attacking the basket to make that happen. Duke has three players tied for a team-high six points.