The Duke women's basketball team earned the 2-seed in the East Region, and will play in the same region as rival North Carolina, who earned the 3-seed in the East. The Blue Devils are gearing up for a deep run, but will likely eventually have to get past the Goliath that is South Carolina, who has the 1-seed in the East. As the Lady Blue Devils gear up for a deep March run tomorrow, here's everything you need to know about their Round of 64 game.
Duke women's basketball
When and where: 8:00pm ET on ESPNU, Friday, March 21st, at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, North Carolina
Streaming platforms: ESPN+, Fubo, HULU, YouTube TV
Opponent: 15-seed Lehigh Mountain Hawks (27-6, 15-3 Patriot League). The Mountain Hawks cruised through the Patriot League, earning the conference tournament's 1-seed. Lehigh took down 2-seed Army 74-62 to earn the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Betting odds: Duke -27.5, -20000 moneyline. Total points O/U 130.5 per ESPNBET
Overview and Predictions:
The Lady Blue Devils ended their season winning nine of the program's last 11 games heading into the NCAA Tournament, headlined by an ACC Championship victory over NC State, 76-62. Duke should have no issues handling a pesky Lehigh team and are looking to avenge the Duke men's basketball team, who was brutally upset by CJ McCollum and Lehigh in 15-seed over 2-seed fashion in the 2012 NCAA Tournament.
The Blue Devils boast one of the top defenses in the nation, only allowing 0.71 points per play (19th in the nation) and only allowing opponents to shoot 24.0% from three-point range this season (16th in the nation) per HerHoopStats.com.
This is a Lehigh team with one of the highest three-point shooting rates in the nation, so if Duke can keep it off of the perimeter, it should handily win this one over the Mountain Hawks.
Lehigh is led by senior Maddie Albrecht, averaging 15.7 points per game on 52.8% shooting from the floor. The Mountain Hawks also have three players shooting 33% or better from beyond the arc.
Duke will be too much for Lehigh to handle, and the Lady Blue Devils will advance to take on either 7-seed Vanderbilt or 10-seed Oregon in the Round of 32.
Score prediction: 91-55 Duke