DWHoops Photos by Orin Day

Maryland Head Coach Brenda Frese wearing a Team Tyler wristband printed by DWHoops

Haley Peters steps in to draw a charge from Kim Rodgers.

Maryland -- Thursday, Feburary 17th, 7:00 PM, Comcast Center

For information regarding Maryland's players, please see the previous Maryland preview.

Last Meeting: 1/6/11: Duke Takes Down Maryland, 71-64

Current Records: Duke 23-2 (9-1 ACC), Maryland 20-5 (6-4 ACC)

Current Rankings: Duke #5, Maryland #12

Since They Played Duke:: The Terps are 7-3 since they played Duke. They shot poorly against a BC team and then rolled off seven straight wins. That included a miraculous OT escape against Virginia, a double-digit beatdown of UNC, and a last-second win vs Georgia Tech. But then the Terps dropped a showdown game at Miami and were upset at home by Virginia Sunday.

The Stakes: The Terps are a full three games behind Duke, making their game a must-win if their extremely dim hopes of winning the regular season are to come to pass. More realistically, the Terps are playing for pride and seeding, both for the ACC tournament and NCAA tournament. Right now, they're in 6th place in the league and need to win to keep pace with Georgia Tech. If they can eventually pull even with UNC, they could finish as high as 4th place. For Duke, they need to win to stay a game ahead of Miami and Florida State.

Frosh Alyssa Thomas has led the Terps in scoring in ACC play, putting up 15 ppg to go with 9 rpg. Center Lynetta Kizer has been no slouch either, averaging 14 ppg and 8 rpg. No other Terp is averaging double figures in scoring in league games, but guard Anjale Barrett is leading the league in assists at 6 per game along with a sterling 3:1 assist/turnover ratio. As before, Maryland is dominant inside, gets scoring from a number of players, turns the ball over 19 times a game and isn't a great three-point shooting team. The Terps have a way of coming up with timely threes (especially against Duke) no matter what they're shooting, so Duke has to at least be aware of Barrett and Kim Rodgers, a player who has hurt Duke before (and hit the winning shot against Georgia Tech). This game will be a slog and the Devils will need to carry the newfound confidence of their frontcourt to take the battle to Kizer & Thomas (who combined for 8 offensive boards a game), as well as their deep bench. Haley Peters, Kathleen Scheer and Richa Jackson may well be called upon for minutes, especially if any of Duke's post get in foul trouble.

Maryland points in the paint.