Upcoming Event: Women's Basketball versus NC State on February 19, 2026 at 7 p.m.
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7 p.m.
Women's Basketball
vs NC State
Photo by: Duke Athletics
No. 9 Duke Hosts NC State Thursday Night on ESPN
2/18/2026 4:22:00 PM | Women's Basketball
he Opening Tip
Up Next
- Duke closes at three-game homestand Thursday against NC State. Tipoff is 7 p.m. on ESPN. The lone unbeaten team in ACC play, Duke has won 16 straight and is 19-6 overall and 14-0 in league action. Its last loss came Dec. 4 against LSU. The 14-0 start in ACC play is Duke's best under head coach Kara Lawson. Duke's 14 ACC victories are tied for the most in a season under head coach Kara Lawson. The Blue Devils have won at least 14 conference games in nine other seasons (1998-99, 2001-02, 2002-03, 2003-04, 2006-07, 2011-12, 2012-13, 2022-23, 2024-25).
- The 16-game win streak is the longest under Lawson, currently ranks tied for fourth among all Division I women's basketball teams and matches Duke's 1998-99, 2004-05 and 2012-13 teams' 16-game win streaks. The next longest win streak in Duke women's basketball history is 20 games, most recently in 2010-11.
- Duke's six losses are against the current NET No. 5 LSU, No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 South Carolina, No. 22 West Virginia, No. 28 Baylor and No. 72 South Florida. The Blue Devils are led on offense by sophomore Toby Fournier's 17.5 points per game. Taina Mair is averaging 11.5 points, 5.4 assists and 5.1 rebounds per game. Ashlon Jackson is playing both ends of the court at an elite level, dropping 11.7 points per game, a team-best 51 three-pointers and 4.6 assists per game, while drawing the toughest perimeter defensive matchup for Duke's elite defense. Fournier, Arianna Roberson and Delaney Thomas lead the charge on the glass, averaging 8.0, 6.3 and 5.7 rebounds per game, respectively. Thomas also contributes 10.5 points per game on a team-high 64 percent shooting, while Roberson adds 9.1 points and 1.2 blocks per game. Fournier is the top rim protector, averaging 2.2 blocks per game.
- Duke and NC State meet for the 92nd time. The Wolfpack lead the series, 50-41, while Duke has a 21-18 edge in games played in Cameron. Duke is 4-5 against NC State under Lawson, including the most recent win to capture the 2025 ACC title.
- Duke defeated No. 21 North Carolina, 72-68, to record its third straight regular season matchup against an AP Top 25 opponent for the first time since a four-game run between February and November 2017.
- Taina Mair finished with 14 points, seven rebounds and seven assists to become the first player to have at least 14-6-7 versus UNC since Haley Gorecki (25-12-8) in 2020.
- Toby Fournier posted 12 rebounds and three blocks to go with her six points. It was her fourth game this season with 10-plus rebounds and 3-plus blocks - the most by a Duke player in a season since Azurá Stevens in 2015-16.
- The Blue Devils have been firing on both ends of the court and are the only team to rank in the top six of the major statistics in conference play.
- Duke's offense has been steady in conference play, ranking first in scoring margin (24.0), assists (18.1), second in field goal percentage (.467), third in scoring offense (78.6) and sixth in three-point percentage (.347).
- Individually on offense, Toby Fournier ranks fourth in the league scoring average at 17.9 points per game. Taina Mair (5.4) and Ashlon Jackson (5.1) are third and fourth in assists. Duke is the lone team among all Power 4 schools to have six players averaging double-digit scoring in league play.
- Defensively, Duke is one of the best in the ACC. The Blue Devils lead the league in scoring defense (54.6), opponent three-point percentage (.258) and turnover margin (4.50), are second in opponent field goal percentage (.358), overall rebounding (41.4) and blocks (6.14) and fourth in opponent rebounding (34.1).
- Defensively, Jackson regularly draws the toughest matchup on the perimeter for the Blue Devils. Athletic and smart, Jackson has been outstanding this year and put on a show against Virginia and Georgia Tech.
- Jackson helped hold Virginia's top scorer, Kymora Johnson, to 13 points and zero assists. She entered the game averaging 18.4 and 6.5. It marked the first time Johnson did not record an assist in a game in her career.
- Georgia Tech leading scorer Talayah Walker was kept to five points and one rebound after entering the game averaging 23.2 points per game against ACC squads and 16.8 points and 6.1 rebounds overall on the 2025-26 season. Walker shot .090 for the game, well below her .454 season average.
- Jackson has helped the Blue Devils hold seven of their opponents during the win streak to under 35 percent shooting for a game and six teams under 50 points in 40 minutes of basketball.
- Mair has done it all this season for the Blue Devils. She has scored double-digits in 13 of the 25 games, collected at least five rebounds in 15 contests, including 10 at Cal and nine at Louisville, and picked up three-plus steals 11 times. The Boston native's 62 steals are third in the ACC. Mair has led Duke in points six times, rebounds five times, assists in 15 games and steals 10 times.
- With 19 points and three assists at South Florida, Mair became the fifth player to reach 1,000 career points and 500 career assists while wearing a Blue Devil uniform. She is the sixth to hit 500 assists. She recently became the third Duke player to finish her collegiate career at Duke with those three milestones.
- Currently, Mair and Kymora Johnson of UVA are the lone two guards in the ACC to have 1,000 points and 500 assists. Mair is 10th in ACC history with 609 assists. She is 21 assists away from tying for 10th in Duke career history despite just playing three seasons. She needs 11 more assists to tie for 10th in Duke single-season history.
Up Next
- The Blue Devils hit the road Sunday for a matchup at Clemson on ESPN2. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m.
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