The pesky Cavaliers have gotten close to upsetting the Blue Devils in recent years, but never succeeded. Tonight they have another chance.
At 7 p.m., No. 4 Duke (20-3, 11-1 in the ACC) will dance with Virginia (12-12, 5-7) in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Much of the Cavaliers' attention will be on All-American Alana Beard, who was recently named ACC player of the week for the 16th time in her career. During a rout of Wake Forest last week, Beard scored 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting. There was an encore performance against UNC Saturday; Beard netted 31 points, going 9-of-16 from the field, including 4-of-5 from three-point range, leading Duke to victory.
In the first matchup between the Blue Devils and the Cavaliers in University Hall last month, UVa successfully shut down Beard for most of the game. Their method for success was to allow Beard to take the long distance shot but to stop dribble penetration at all costs.
Eventually Beard had some success, leading Duke to an uncomfortable 63-52 win as Duke made a run with the score tied and eight minutes remaining.
However, the cast of characters is different this time. Duke's freshman forward Brittany Hunter sat out during the first contest with a sore right knee. On the other side of the ball, Virginia forward Brandi Teamer missed the first matchup due to a suspension. Teamer leads the Cavaliers in scoring and rebounding.
But even though Teamer has returned, Virginia has been struggling of late. The Cavaliers lost to Georgia Tech 65-55 and to N.C. State 72-67 within the last week. Despite Virginia's recent woes, the Duke coaching staff knows the Blue Devils cannot afford a slow start.
"I think the biggest thing is that we've got to be able to set the tone early in the game," assistant coach LaVonda Wagner said. "They tried to beat us in our own game, which was to run in transition. We'd score, they'd pull it out of the net and pass it long. We've got to be able to stop their transition game and to get some second-chance opportunities."v
Another thing the Blue Devils have on their mind is limiting the effectiveness of Virginia's defensive specialist Jocelyn Logan-Friend. In the previous meeting between Duke and UVa, Logan-Friend had five blocks and 10 rebounds.
"I think that we've got to do a better job of showing [Logan-Friend] a variety of post moves and attack her in different ways instead of turning around and trying to shoot over her," Wagner said. "She's playing really well right now."
Although Teamer and Logan-Friend are big factors, Beard and her Blue Devils have high expectations for tonight.
"I think as a team, since we lost to Florida State we've realized what we've needed to do as a team," Beard said. "I'm not expecting a let down at all."
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