Going into the NCAA Tournament, Duke knew that any deep run in the NCAA Tournament would mean matchups against familiar foes.
After the fifth-seeded Blue Devils beat ninth-seeded, and recent postseason nemesis, Penn in the first round, they were tempted to look past fourth-seeded Florida in anticipation of a potential semifinal matchup with ACC champion, and No. 1 seed, Maryland. Duke, though, did not fall into the trap on Saturday, sliding past the Gators 13-9 in the quarterfinals.
Now, Duke is eager for its second chance against the Terrapins.
“A rematch against Maryland is something we feel really excited about,” head coach Kerstin Kimel said. “I think we are a much more seasoned group now and in a much better position to defend Maryland than we were in February.”
Along with the three months of preparation, the Blue Devils are riding high after closing out Saturday’s contest with a 5-0 run, defeating Florida despite seeing their three-goal lead diminish early in the second half behind the Gators’ impressive transition attack.
“Florida is a really good team and does a lot of scoring in transition, and part of our goal is to limit transition goals. They really came at us but I think we stayed very calm as a team,” Kimel said. “We had a couple big pivotal plays that put us up 10-9... around the 6-minute mark. We felt we needed to stall the ball, so I think that Florida was kind of able to capture momentum, but we were able to quickly capture it back.”
With this past weekend’s successes against the Gators—whose program is just two years old—the Blue Devils feel confident despite playing a rival and perennial powerhouse in the Terrapins. In fact, the win over Florida bodes well for the semifinals, as the Gators’ transition offense closely mirrors Maryland’s.
“One good thing is that the way we prepared for Florida is the way we have to prepare for Maryland, so it’s not that different,” Kimel said. “Both transition and score in bunches, and I think we’ll need to be able to stop them in transition and slow the ball down.”
As in any rematch, Duke will try to evaluate what went wrong in February as it prepares for Friday’s semifinal.
“Our first half against Maryland earlier this year from an offensive standpoint was great, so we want to look back... and kind of construct our offensive game plan on those things and on where Maryland is now,” Kimel said. “They’re not only a great offensive team but also good at closing offensive teams as well.”
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