They say not to mess with Texas, but the Duke women's basketball team isn't too worried about it.
After defeating TCU with relative ease in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, the Blue Devils will host Texas this Saturday in Raleigh. It will be Duke's fifth straight appearance in the Sweet 16 as it looks to erase a recent unpleasant trend of exiting the tournament in the third round.
Two years ago, the Blue Devils fell to Louisiana State, and last season, succumbed to Southwest Missouri State.
"We were in this position in the Sweet 16 last year, and we lost," Alana Beard said. "And I'm pretty sure that's a motivation factor for everyone."
The task will be tough, however, considering Texas' solid regular-season play and its experience in close games. Five of the team's nine losses were single-digit defeats, while the Longhorns also won a fair share of close contests, including two in overtime.
Although the Blue Devils seem to have the clear advantage of playing in front of what should be a partisan crowd, Texas should feel somewhat comfortable with its road game, given the Longhorns' three-point win at Tennessee in February.
"Beating Tennessee at Tennessee doesn't happen very often," coach Gail Goestenkors said. "I'm sure they'll have a lot of
After losing in the second round of the Big 12 conference tournament, Texas appears to be putting all aspects of its game together at the right time. Five Longhorns are averaging in double figures in the Big Dance thus far, with forwards Heather Schreiber and Kala Bowers leading the way in the second round against UC-Santa Barbara. The two freshmen shot 12-for-22, including 6-for-9 from behind the arc against the Gauchos.
But the stellar play of Beard and Monique Currie this postseason should go a long way to offset the scoring power of Schreiber and Bowers, and the battle could very well come down to paint play. Texas center Stacey Stephens led the team with 14.3 points per game and 10 rebounds per contest in the regular season. And although her numbers have dropped somewhat in the postseason, the Blue Devils are still wary of her abilities.
Several teams have tried to counter Stephens by playing a zone defense, and Goestenkors said that it's a game plan that the Blue Devils will consider, especially given the low shooting percentage of Texas' starting guard Kenya Larkin. She is the only starter shooting below 40 percent, and has only netted one three-pointer on the season.
"[Stephens] leads the Big 12 in rebounding and is a tremendous offensive rebounder as well," Goestenkors said. 'She's a tough player. I saw her last year when she was getting ready to play for USA Basketball, and I was very impressed.'
Meanwhile, Duke's main presence inside, Iciss Tillis, has struggled as of late. After scoring in double figures in all but two regular-season contests, the sophomore has posted single-digit scoring in three out of her last four games dating back to the ACC Tournament.
However, since Beard and Currie have adequately picked up the slack and the Blue Devils have not struggled much during her scoring drought, Tillis is content to let her game come to her.
'I don't think I've been playing poorly by any means. I just haven't been scoring like I usually do,' Tillis said. 'I'm not going to focus on going out there and trying to score, I'm just going to focus on other things, the little things that win championships, like defense and rebounding. And I think if I focus on those things, then the scoring will eventually come.... I just have to keep things in perspective.'
If Tillis and the Blue Devils are able to keep things in perspective and make it two in a row against the state of Texas, Duke will play Monday night for a place in the Final Four, which will be held, true to the pattern, in Texas.
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