Duke’s 3-6 start now seems like a distant memory after 14 consecutive wins and with sole position of first place in the ACC.
The No. 17 Blue Devils (17-6, 12-0 ACC) finally validated their preseason promise with a 59-58 win over No. 6 Louisville, ending the Cardinals’ 14-game winning streak. It is Duke’s first win in Louisville, which joined the ACC in 2013.
The Blue Devils entered the game tied with the Cardinals (21-4, 11-1) atop the conference standings. Duke boasted the ACC’s best defense, Louisville the league’s best offense. Ultimately, it was the Blue Devils’ defense — specifically their shot-first defense — that led to the road victory.
Coach Kara Lawson said pregame that she didn’t think her team was defending well enough. If Lawson still believes that after Thursday’s performance, her standards are too high.
Duke limited the Cardinals to 58 points, their lowest-scoring outing this season, but right in line with the 55.1 points the Blue Devils concede during ACC play. Louisville shot 21 of 62 from the field, its lowest shooting percentage, even worse than in a 13-point loss to No. 1 UConn. The home team missed its first eight field-goal attempts, tying its coldest start to a game this season, set against the Huskies.
The Cardinals’ best offense came from offensive rebounds, which led to 16 points. When removing second-chance shooting opportunities, they shot just 30 percent from the floor.
The Blue Devils switched screens on the perimeter, which took away Louisville’s 3-point attempts; the Cardinals took 17, about six lower than their season average. Riley Nelson and Ashlon Jackson were active at the point of attack, and Delaney Thomas communicated and rotated well from the paint. Louisville tried to compensate in the second half by running more off-ball actions to beat the switching, eventually erasing a 10-point halftime deficit to grab a three-point lead in the fourth. However, the Cardinals eventually went cold again.
BLUE DEVILS MAKE A STATEMENT‼️😤
No. 17 @DukeWBB takes down No. 6 Louisville, 59-58.#NCAAWBBpic.twitter.com/UkKoh63lBa
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessWBB) February 6, 2026
Duke’s length was a challenge for Louisville. The Cardinals couldn’t always find the right passing lanes, even if one of their teammates had made the right cut behind the defense. Every jumper felt tightly contested; Reyna Scott even hit the side of the backboard on a 3-point attempt, though her defender was in the paint when she caught the ball. When Imari Berry came off a screen and took a 3 for the lead with 37 seconds remaining, 6-foot-2 Toby Fournier rejected the attempt — her third blocked shot of the game — to preserve the Blue Devils’ advantage. Duke has averaged 10.3 steals and 5.7 blocks in conference play, collecting nine and eight, respectively, on Thursday.
Other than some deficiencies on the defensive glass, the Blue Devils’ lone defensive struggle was fouling too much. They committed 20 fouls and sent Louisville to the line 18 times, including a pair of free throws for Berry to tie the game with 1.1 seconds left. That the offense couldn’t hold onto the ball didn’t make the defense’s job easier as Duke committed 19 turnovers, resulting in 20 points for the Cardinals. Yet, Louisville had no answers when the Blue Devils were able to defend in the half court.
This is the vision Duke laid out to begin the season, before early-season losses sapped their mojo. The Blue Devils haven’t lost since Nelson entered the starting lineup and have finally found the disruptive identity Lawson was searching for. Their margin for error isn’t overwhelming — one more Berry free throw would have sent the game into overtime — but it has been enough, leaving Duke atop the ACC and in the driver’s seat for its first regular-season conference title since 2013.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Duke Blue Devils, Louisville Cardinals, Women's College Basketball
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