After its 79-65 victory against No. 8 N.C. State Friday afternoon, No. 1 Duke will look to continue its ACC tournament push against No. 4 Florida State Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Greensboro Coliseum.
Duke (28-2, 17-1 in the ACC) has been able to lean on a number of players since star point guard Chelsea Gray went down Feb. 17 against Wake Forest. Duke looked to junior guard Tricia Liston as the hero Friday, with the 3-point specialist knocking down a career-high six treys and racking up 26 points. Ten of those points came during the final seven minutes of the game, in which Duke managed to go on a 22-8 run to take the lead and the win.
“These are games that prepare you for the NCAA tournament,” head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “You want to be the very best in the last eight minutes of the game and dictate as much as possible.”
The Wolfpack tested the Blue Devils on both offense and defense, not allowing Duke to take a definite lead until that final run fueled by Liston.
If anything, Friday’s game should have served as a gut-check for Duke.
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“Tournament time is always a fun time,” Liston said. “But it’s one game and you’re out, so we really needed to keep that in our mind and have the mentality that it’s one game at a time and you cant look past any teams here.”
The only question Florida State can ask is which player will explode for Duke next. Liston, freshman guard Alexis Jones, junior forward Haley Peters, sophomore center Elizabeth Williams and junior guard Chloe Wells have all shown they have the potential to step up for the Blue Devils.
“For us this is important, a chance to get better in our new season, this is an exciting season. This is the most fun time of the year by far, and obviously just another challenge tomorrow,” McCallie said. “That’s just the way it is and that’s what makes it fun.”
Florida State (22-8, 12-7) boasts a strong offensive starting lineup, with all five starters averaging more than 10 points per game. This comes with the experience, as the Seminoles boast an all-upperclassman starting five, including a pair of redshirt seniors.
“They’ve got lots of scorers, [they are] a very good team,” McCallie said. “We’ve got to rebound the ball really, really hard and make life difficult offensively for them.”
The problems the Seminoles run into come on the defensive side of the ball. They currently allow 65.0 points per game, which is eighth in the ACC. The Blue Devils top the league, letting up only an average of 51.5 per game.
In their only meeting of the regular season, the Seminoles fell to Duke 61-50 in Durham. That was during a rough stretch for Florida State in which they dropped four out of six games to end the season.
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