After hosting two ACC opponents last weekend, the Blue Devils travel to Chapel Hill tonight and Raleigh Saturday to face local ACC rivals North Carolina and N.C. State. In yet another big weekend of action, Duke looks to secure much-needed wins to advance its quest to stay at the pinnacle of the conference standings.
The Blue Devils (16-3, 6-1 in the ACC) have not lost against unranked teams this season and should be able to pick up two relatively easy wins against teams with less successful records. However, playing two games on the road back to back can offer other obstacles to the conference-leading Blue Devils.
The Blue Devils will be playing the Tar Heels (8-9, 4-2) in the Dean E. Smith Center at 5 p.m., prior to “Late Night with Roy,” North Carolina basketball’s season tip-off. According to head coach Jolene Nagel, this means there will be a crowd of over 16,000 in attendance all rooting for the Tar Heels. The match will also pit last year’s ACC co-champions against each other.
“[It’s] a challenge to go to Chapel Hill,” Nagel said. “It’ll definitely be a difficult environment to play in. We’d love any Duke people that could get there to be there.”
Nagel, however, believes her team will rise to the occasion.
“Our team enjoys playing in that kind of an environment...and has fun with it,” Nagel said.
Duke, coming off a loss against No. 17 Florida State in a tight five-set match Saturday, will be looking to return to its winning ways and quiet the large crowd.
“On the one hand it’s definitely a challenge, but on the other hand it’s probably one of our most memorable experiences,” Nagel said.
The Blue Devils will then make a quick turnaround and head to Raleigh to face N.C. State (7-14, 0-6), who will be looking to pick up its first ACC victory. Duke, on the other hand, will attempt to keep its unbeaten record away from home untarnished, but will again have to do so in the challenging environment of Reynolds Coliseum.
Nagel hopes the nature of the weekend will not take away from the performance of her players, and said her team will need to quickly turn its attention to the Wolfpack.
“We need to be our best, so that we can control our own destiny, and not worry about what other people do… because we just don’t know how it’ll fall out at the end.”
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