Duke aims to contain Cavaliers

In its last two games, No. 4 Duke has had some trouble finishing games and building on second-half leads. In an overtime loss to Florida State last Thursday, the Blue Devils allowed a furious late rally by the Seminoles to force overtime. Duke led by six points with 48 seconds left in regulation, but squandered the lead and lost in overtime. In a win over Boston College Monday, Duke saw its 18-point lead dwindle down to six on three occasions.

On Thursday at 7 p.m. in John Paul Jones Arena, Duke (18-2, 6-1 in the ACC) will try to dominate a game from start to finish against No. 15 Virginia (18-4, 4-2).

"We have to focus," junior forward Joy Cheek said. "Keep pounding them. We'll have a great first half, but we'll come out a little flat in the second half and allow them to have runs. We need to have better play [coming out of halftime]."

But that task won't be easy, especially against the Cavaliers, who boast the league's leading scorer in Monica Wright and the league's leading rebounder in Aisha Mohammed. Virginia upset Maryland early in the season and, last week, upset No. 8 Maryland in Charlottesville, Va.

Duke will look to avoid the upset by countering with what has been its focus all year long: defensive intensity.

"We have to focus on defense, and not allow teams to have such long runs," said sophomore guard Jasmine Thomas, who will be playing about an hour from her hometown. "That's one of the things that we always focus on in practice. Our shots may not go in, but we have to play defense the same way."

How does Duke, which is ranked second in the nation in both steals and field goal percentage allowed, plan to thwart Virginia's offensive firepower?

The same way it has all season.