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Duke And Connecticut Showdown Set For Saturday...
In a battle of two of the top four teams in the nation, the fourth-ranked Duke Blue Devils (9-1) will take on top-ranked Connecticut (9-0) on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. in Hartford, Conn. The contest will be played at the Hartford Civic Center and aired live on CBS. Calling the action will be Craig Bolerjack (play-by-play) and Rebecca Lobo (color).
The game will also be aired live on the radio with Steve Barnes (play-by-play) and Missy Anderson (color) calling the game on WDNC AM 620.
Noting The Blue Devils...
The Blue Devils have won the past 20 consecutive true road contests ... over the last four years, Duke is 25-7 against ranked opponents ... this will mark the first time the Blue Devils have ever played a game on CBS ... Saturday will be the second time Iciss Tillis, Alana Beard, Monique Currie and Wynter Whitley have played in the Hartford Civic Center as the 2000 and 2001 WBCA All-America games were played there ... as of Dec. 12, Duke has notched 3,840 season ticket holders, which is over 500 more than last year's number of 3,328 ... of Duke's 13 members on the team, 10 are high school All-America selections ... sophomore walk-on Dana Morgan, senior walk-on Kalita Marsh and Australian native Jessica Foley are the only players who weren't All-Americas.
A Look At Connecticut...
Connecticut enters Saturday's game with a 9-0 record and is ranked first nationally. The Huskies are coming off a 87-53 victory over N.C. State on Monday. Connecticut enters the Duke game with a 69-game home winning streak, which ties Tennessee for the NCAA record. The Huskies have also won their last 75 regular season games.
Leading Connecticut are senior All-America Diana Taurasi (20.8 points, 4.1 rebounds), Barbara Turner (13.9 points), Ann Strother (11.7 points) and Jessica Moore (10.1 points). Head Coach Geno Auriemma is in his 19th year and owns a 510-99 overall record.
The Series With Connecticut...
Saturday's meeting between the Huskies and Blue Devils will be only the fifth time the schools have met. Connecticut leads the overall series 3-1 with the three victories coming on Nov. 13, 1998 (104-74) at the Nike Four in the Fall in San Jose, Calif., on Jan. 11, 1980 (81-69) at Cameron Indoor Stadium and on Feb. 1, 2003 (77-65) at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Duke's lone win came on Dec. 9, 1988 (83-69) at the Virginia Commonwealth Classic in Richmond, Va. Head Coach Gail Goestenkors has faced UConn twice, in 1998 (L, 104-74) and in 2003 (L, 77-65).
Duke Vs. The Big East...
Duke owns an overall 20-12 record against Big East opponents-- Connecticut (1-3), Boston College (2-1), Rutgers (1-1), Villanova (1-0), Seton Hall (4-2), Virginia Tech (4-1), Notre Dame (1-3), Georgetown (4-0), Providence (1-1) and Syracuse (1-0). Coach G is 11-5 against the Big East.
Beard Vs. Taurasi...
The top two women's basketball players in the nation will be dueling on the court on Saturday in Hartford. Duke's Alana Beard (19.2 points) and Connecticut's Diana Taurasi (20.8 points) will be able to showcase their talents for a national audience. The duo are very familiar with each other as they played on the 2000 and 2001 USA Basketball Junior World Championship teams together for coach Geno Auriemma. The teams won a gold medal in 2000 and a bronze in 2001. Duke's Wynter Whitley and Monique Currie also played on the 2001 team.
Largest Road Crowd Expected...
On Saturday, Duke is expected to play against a sellout crowd of over 16,000 Connecticut fans. This will be the largest true road crowd the Blue Devils have played in front of. Prior to this, the largest crowd Duke has played in front of was last year at North Carolina with 10,180 fans. Duke has played in front of sellout crowds of 28,210 and 29,619 the last two years at the NCAA Final Four.
Revenge Once Again...
The upcoming Connecticut matchup on Saturday will mark a revenge game for the Blue Devils as the Huskies defeated Duke 104-74 in the Four in the Fall Classic in the 1998-99 season and 77-65 last season in Durham.
In the last 13 revenge games, Duke has boasted an 12-1 mark dating back to the 1999-00 season. The only loss came against the Huskies last season. So far this season, the Blue Devils avenged the 1999 National Championship game loss to Purdue with a 93-63 victory.
Duke Versus Number One...
The Blue Devils will face the a top-ranked team for only the second time in school history on Saturday against Connecticut. The only time Duke went up against a No. 1 ranked team was on Mar. 28, 1999 in the National Championship game against Purdue. Duke lost 62-45 in San Jose, Calif.
Caitlin Howe Plays First Collegiate Game...
After missing most of the last three years of basketball, Duke redshirt freshman Caitlin Howe returned to game action over the weekend in the LMU Marina Beach Classic. In the two contests, she scored 11 points in only 18 minutes. In her first collegiate game against Hampton, Howe hit her first shot attempt, which was a three-pointer. She came back in the next game to score eight points on two three-pointers and also hit a baseline jumper.
Howe returned to practice on Dec. 16, but did not play in the game against Northwestern State because she was sick. Known for her tremendous three-point shooting, Howe has hit 3-of-5 attempts in two contests.
A native of Rochester, N.Y., Howe suffered torn ACL injuries during her junior and senior years of high school and last season at Duke. She played in an exhibition game in 2002-03 for the Blue Devils but never had enough stability in her knee to play in a regular season contest and ended up having surgery.
Howe was a McDonald's High School All-America selection in 2002 and scored 2,001 points in her varsity career, which began in seventh grade. In her first game of her senior year, Howe scored two points to go over 2,000 points in her career before suffering her second torn ACL shortly after. As a junior, she averaged 24.8 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 3.6 steals.
Dominant Defenses...
Two of the nations top defenses will be in action on Saturday as Duke is holding opponents to 35.5 percent shooting from the field and 54.0 points a game, while Connecticut is allowing 32.3 percent shooting and 50.0 points. Since allowing 85 points in the season opener, Duke hasn't allowed more than 63 points in a game and is giving up only 50.6 points a contest. The Blue Devils are forcing 25.3 turnovers a game, while Connecticut is forcing 19.4.
Beard Doing More Than Just Scoring...
Ever since Alana Beard arrived at Duke she has done more than just score and the 2003-04 season has been no different as she is averaging 5.5 rebounds, 5.5 assists, 3.5 steals, 0.9 blocks and owns a 2.3 assist/turnover ratio.
Ever since her season-opening poor shooting performance, Beard has been tearing it up, hitting 58.9 percent of her field goals, 38.1 percent from three-point land and 72.7 percent from the charity stripe. The 2003 Victor Award winner of the National Player of the Year, Beard has scored 20 or more points on five different occasions.
Against Ranked Opponents...
Over the last four years, Alana Beard and Iciss Tillis have played in over 30 games against ranked opponents. In 31 games, Beard has averaged 20.5 points and 6.9 rebounds versus ranked foes, while Tillis has averaged 14.0 points and 6.6 rebounds in 33 games.
Wins Last Four Years...
Looking at the number of wins over the past four years, Duke ranks second behind Connecticut (117) with 105 victories. Rounding out the top five is Tennessee (100), Louisiana Tech (94) and Purdue (92) (through games of Dec. 29).
Beard Needs 25 More Points To Reach Record...
Junior Alana Beard became the second Duke player to register 2,000 career points in the NCAA Final Four game against Tennessee last season. Beard nailed a 23-foot three-pointer as time expired in the first half to notch 2,000 points exactly.
Beard has already moved into fourth place on the ACC's all-time career points list with 2,208 and is second on Duke's all-time scoring list in only 112 games at Duke. She needs 25 more points to become Duke's all-time scoring leader (Chris Moreland, 2,232). Beard also became only the second Duke men's or women's player to reach the 2,000 point mark in three seasons (Jason Williams).
She could also become the all-time leading scorer at Duke, breaking Johnny Dawkins men's basketball scoring record of 2,556.
Balanced Scoring Attack...
One of the things Duke lacked last season was more scoring threats besides All-America's Alana Beard and Iciss Tillis. So far this season, many Blue Devils have picked up the scoring load. The biggest addition is the return of Monique Currie after missing last season with a torn ACL. Currie is averaging 13.8 points. 6.8 rebounds and 4.1 assists so far through 10 games. Other Blue Devils who have picked up their scoring are Mistie Bass (11.8) and Jessica Foley (8.7). Freshman Brittany Hunter is averaging 11.4 points a game and has scored double-figures in four of the five games played. The only game in which she didn't score double-figures was against Purdue when she was injured in the first six minutes.
All 13 Blue Devils Available...
For the first time this season, Duke had the luxury of having all 13 players on its roster play in a game on Dec. 28 against Hampton in the LMU Marina Beach Classic. Both Wynter Whitley and Caitlin Howe made their first appearance of the season, while freshman Brittany Hunter returned from knee surgery.
After a very successful showing in the first two games of her collegiate career, Hunter, the 2003 Parade High School National Player of the Year, was injured against Purdue on Nov. 23 in the first six minutes of the contest. Hunter had a slight tear in her lateral meniscus and had surgery was performed on Nov. 25 by Dr. Alison Toth.
In her collegiate debut, Hunter had 16 points, five rebounds and five blocks off the bench. The Columbus, Ohio, product hit 8-of-11 from the field for the contest. In her two games back over the weekend, Hunter scored 12 points and had nine rebounds in both contests. She hit 10 of 20 shots and had two blocks in 32 minutes of action.
Whitley saw her first practice time of the year on Dec. 17, after missing the first seven games recovering from ankle surgery in July. She has averaged 6.0 points and 3.8 rebounds over the first two years at Duke and started 21 career games.
