Most years, when Duke’s last regular-season home game rolls around, the Blue Devils can still expect to play in Cameron Indoor Stadium again in postseason competition.
They hope that will not be the case this season.
Duke enters its Senior Day game against Georgia Tech Sunday at 2 p.m. still battling for a berth to the NCAA tournament. The Blue Devils kept their hopes alive with a close win Thursday at Virginia Tech, but they likely need to win the last two games of the regular season and get past the first round of the ACC tournament to bolster their chances of qualifying for the 64-team field and avoid hosting Women’s NIT action instead.
“It’s been a tough year because obviously we haven’t really achieved what we wanted to achieve, looking from the beginning of the year until now, but we are a young team,” graduate student Amber Henson said. “Right now, we’re going one game at a time. Obviously, we have the big picture in mind and this is just a step along the way, but my big picture as far as Duke basketball as far as I’m involved is almost over, so I’m just really enjoying one game at a time.”
Although Henson has one year of eligibility left, she is playing her last season and will be one of two players honored during the pregame ceremony, joining senior guard Mercedes Riggs. Riggs transferred to Duke last year after playing her first two seasons at Salt Lake Community College, but this is Henson’s fifth year at Duke in a career that has been riddled with knee injuries.
The graduate student’s leadership was on full display Thursday against the Hokies, when she made two 3-pointers to help Duke (18-10, 7-7 in the ACC) rally in the second half and provided a strong defensive performance as the Blue Devils held Virginia Tech to just 62 points.
“Amber’s one of a kind—a post player with her shooting touch and her height and her length and all that she can do—she has been invaluable to us this year, as evidenced by how we were without her,” Duke head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “I hope we never ever have to see anyone with six knee surgeries again, but I’ll tell you what—if we do, they better be like Amber, because she’s been really tough.”
The Yellow Jackets (15-11, 5-8) present a stiff challenge, though, and could threaten Duke’s streak of 10 straight Senior Day victories. Senior guard Aaliyah Whiteside averages 20.2 points per game to lead the ACC and tallied 12 points in Georgia Tech’s 71-62 victory against the Blue Devils in Atlanta last season.
“Whiteside’s a great player, and she can hit the three, she can go off the bounce. She’s a nice little lefty, she’s very strong and she can post up,” McCallie said. “Everyone’s got to be aware of her.”
Much like Duke, the Yellow Jackets are having a disappointing year in conference play, but they played No. 2 Notre Dame and No. 10 Florida State within single-digits on the road.
The Blue Devils are unlikely to have their leading scorer Azurá Stevens available Sunday for the sixth straight game. Stevens—who trails only Whiteside among league leaders in points per game—is still dealing with a torn plantar fascia in her left foot, but Duke’s young players have started to improve without her under the leadership of Henson and Riggs.
The most marked improvement has come from freshman Faith Suggs, who led the team in rebounding at Wake Forest Feb. 14 with eight boards before knocking down two triples against the Hokies to improve to 6-of-19 from beyond the arc this season.
“Faith can really be an X-factor for us, because she can play inside, outside and she’s just really tough. "I had a conversation with Faith, because I think [against Wake Forest], I kicked it to Faith and she missed it really bad,” Henson said. “I was like, ‘Faith, don’t mess up my assist this time, you’re going to make them this game’—just keeping her confident, because we’re going to need her.”
Henson's encouragement on the floor is matched by the enthusiasm of Riggs, who regularly hops down the bench and high-fives her teammates after every made 3-pointer. Their leadership has helped this young team mature since the beginning of the season, and though they usually defer recognition to their teammates through their unselfish styles of play, Sunday will be their time in the spotlight.
“I can remember when I was in high school and I walked into Cameron for the first time—I was like, ‘Oh yeah, I want to play here,’” Henson said. “Just having that opportunity has been awesome.”
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