Despite its unblemished ACC record, Duke has little breathing room down the stretch—even against one of the conference’s weakest teams.
The No. 5 Blue Devils (21-3, 12-0 in the ACC) will look to increase their one-game ACC lead at Cameron Indoor Stadium against Virginia Tech (7-18, 3-9) at 7 p.m. Wednesday. The last time the two teams met, Duke blew out the Hokies on their home court by 27 points. But with just four regular season games left, the Blue Devils cannot overlook Virginia Tech on their quest for a repeat ACC title.
“I would call them the most improved team in the league,” Blue Devil head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “They went to Maryland and beat Maryland. That’s pretty impressive.”
The Hokies struck the entire ACC by surprise when they upset then-No. 8 Maryland on the Terrapins’ home floor Jan. 26. Since then, though, Virginia Tech has lost four straight games, including a narrow loss to Boston College in Blacksburg Monday night, handing the Eagles their first conference win.
The Hokies are led by guards Monet Tellier and Aerial Wilson, who average 14.4 and 11.0 points per game, respectively.
“We are really concerned about Tellier,” McCallie said.
LaTorri Hines Allen, a 6-foot-1 forward will likely match up with Blue Devil Elizabeth Williams on the block. Allen leads the Hokies on the glass, averaging 7.0 rebounds per game, but gives up two inches to the freshman. Williams has been dominant on the defensive end of the floor this season, averaging 8.4 rebounds and 3.9 blocks, the second-highest mark in the nation.
Duke also continues to sport a very balanced offense behind point guard Chelsea Gray. The sophomore leads the conference in assists per game with 6.2, helping three of her teammates—Williams, Haley Peters and Tricia Liston—average over 10 points per game, while scoring 11.2 per contest herself.
The Blue Devils look to improve on a strong shooting night against Florida State last Sunday. The team shot 5-for-8 from beyond the arc and 49 percent overall from the floor. Although Duke beat the Seminoles, McCallie was insistent that her team still must make improvements.
“There are lots of things that we want to do better that we did not do well in the Florida State game,” McCallie said. “We still want to get better from every game. Boston College and Florida State provided us a lot of areas for improvement. We have been working on these things and hope to apply these to Virginia Tech.”
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