After a weeklong break, the Virginia women’s basketball team returns to home court Thursday night to face No. 11 Duke, its second of three straight ranked opponents.
“I think it was a good break for our bodies — we needed it,” freshman guard Mikayla Venson said. “This game is huge for us — we have to get at least one game out of these top-ranked teams. We know we can do it. We just got to prove it and show it on the floor and put it all together.”
After finishing non-conference play at 10-3, the Cavaliers (15-8, 5-5 ACC) have been inconsistent, winning two games to start conference play and then losing to a ranked Syracuse team. Virginia bounced back with a win against Boston College before dropping three straight, including a loss against No. 9 Louisville. The Cavaliers were on a two-game winning streak before its most recent loss against No. 4 Notre Dame.
Virginia has been able to stay close against all the ranked teams it has faced, cutting large deficits to single digits multiple times, but has yet to pull off an upset.
“I definitely think there are bright spots in those games,” coach Joanne Boyle said. “As a coach, you just want constant growth. I think what ends up happening when we find ourselves in these games where we’re competing — we kind of lose it the same way. When adversity strikes, we kind of fall apart, whether it’s quick shots or we break down. I’m happy we can compete, but I’m not happy as a coach because you want to see progression throughout your season.”
Against Notre Dame, the Cavaliers were within seven with 15:26 to go but never got closer and eventually lost 75-54. The Cavaliers made their first five shots of the half leading up to the 15:26 mark but made only four more field goals for the rest of the game.
“We took 16 bad shots in the game,” Boyle said. “That’s a lot of bad shots and a lot of them were in the last seven eight minutes of the game. You can’t do that. In adverse situations, we don’t trust each other right now.”
Part of Virginia’s offensive inefficiency is due to an inability to get the ball inside to senior center Sarah Imovbioh, who is averaging only 9.5 points in conference play. Against Notre Dame, Imovbioh had only three points and three field goal attempts.
“We need an inside and outside game, meaning that Sarah [Imovbioh] and [freshman forward] Lauren [Moses] need to touch the ball to rotate to make the defense collapse,” Boyle said. “Whether Sarah shoots it or passes it out, we’ve shifted the defense. We’re playing all around the perimeter and Sarah is just becoming a rebounder for us, and that’s not effective for ACC basketball.”
The Blue Devils (18-6, 9-2 ACC) know how to play ACC basketball, having won eight conference tournament championships and reaching the final of the ACC Tournament last season. So far this season, Duke has had the best defense in the league in terms of blocked shots and opponents’ field goal percentage.
“They’re going to play a matchup zone, so we’ve just got to really work the zone and again cannot play on the outside,” Boyle said. “Of course, we’re going to hit open shots against the zone, but I would prefer that those shots come sometime going into SI, the defense collapsing, and coming back out, getting the ball and getting better shots.”
After losing five regular season games last year, the Blue Devils have already lost six this year — most recently to Boston College Jan. 22. The Blue Devils have also lost two key players, freshman guard Sierra Calhoun — who averaged 10.1 points in 13 starts before she decided to leave the program — and sophomore forward Oderah Chidom — who contributed 8.5 points per game for the Blue Devils before a shoulder injury prematurely ended her season.
Remaining is the league’s fourth-best distributor, senior guard and forward Ka’lia Johnson, and 6-foot-3 center and forward Elizabeth Williams, who is second in the ACC in blocks.
“Their guard play is very good, but they’ve got a really short bench,” Boyle said. “They’re playing seven people. Their front line is 6’3”, 6’4”, 6’5”, and they have good guards, but they’re not as athletic at the guard spot — they don’t press as much as they used to.”
Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. at John Paul Jones Arena.
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