Virginia Plays at No. 16 Duke on Sunday

January 13, 2018

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia women’s basketball team (12-6, 5-0 ACC) will play at No. 16 Duke (13-4, 2-2 ACC) on Sunday, Jan. 14 at 3 p.m. at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, N.C.

The game will be televised nationally on ESPN2. All of the 2017-18 Virginia women’s basketball games – home and away – are available locally on the radio on NewsRadio 1070 AM and 98.9 FM WINA. The game will also stream live online on ESPN3/WatchESPN.

The Cavaliers head into the game riding an eight-game win streak. The last time the Cavaliers won eight games in a row was during the 2008-09 season when the squad won nine straight. The Cavaliers have started ACC play 5-0 start for the first time since the 2000 season when the team with nine-straight conference wins.

UVA is currently tied for first place in the ACC with No. 3 Louisville (5-0), having won four of its five ACC games by double-digit margins of victory.

Virginia is receiving votes in this week’s USA Today Coaches’ Poll, the third-highest vote tally of teams outside the top-25. Duke is ranked No. 16 in the AP Poll and 18th in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll and is looking for its first win over a team ranked in the AP Top-25 this season. Syracuse was ranked No. 23 in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll, but was only receiving votes in the AP Poll. Virginia’s last win over an AP top-25 team was last year’s 60-51 victory over No. 4 Florida State (2/15/17).

Virginia leads the ACC in scoring defense in conference games, holding opponents to 54.8 points per game, and is tied with Duke in field goal percentage defense with opponents shooting 37.4 percent. Duke leads the ACC in three-point shooting efficiency (41.6 percent) while Virginia is third at 37.7 percent.

The Cavaliers have four players averaging double figures this season, led by sophomore guard Dominique Toussaint (Staten Island, N.Y.) at 11.6 per game. Toussaint is 13-of-25 (52.0 percent) from the field in the last three games, including going 5-of-8 at BC. Toussaint boasts 26 assists to just 8 turnovers in ACC games, the best ratio in the conference (3.3). Toussaint tied her career high with seven assists at BC, doing so in just 22 minutes.

Sophomore guard Jocelyn Willoughby (East Orange, N.J.) has led the team in scoring in each of the last two games, scoring 16 points against Clemson and 18 at Boston College. Willoughby had her best shooting game of the season at BC, going 7-of-9 from the field. In the last two games, Willoughby is 12-of-18 from the field and 4-of-6 from three, both of which are 66.7 percent efficiencies.

Sophomore center Felicia Aiyeotan (Lagos, Nigeria) comes into the game with 99 blocked shots in her career. She is vying to become the seventh player in program history to record 100 or more blocked shots as a Cavalier.

Freshman guard Brianna Tinsley (Madison, Va.) has scored at least five points in each of the last seven games.

Duke is coming off an 80-67 win on Thursday night at Wake Forest. Duke was nearly perfect from the free-throw line (19-of-20) and shot 52.0 percent from the floor to Wake Forest’s 36.8 percent. The Blue Devils were also 50.0 percent from three-point land and added 20 points off of turnovers.

Duke’s fifth-year senior Lexie Brown has been tabbed to the John R. Wooden Award Midseason Top 25 list. She currently ranks second in the ACC in scoring with a 20.4 per game average, also ranking first in the ACC in steals (3.8), third in free throw percentage (85.9) and eighth in assists (4.1). Duke has won the last 25 consecutive meetings between the two teams and is 30-1 in the last 31 meetings. Virginia’s last victory in the series was Jan. 30, 2000 in Charlottesville. UVA’s last win at Duke was Feb. 19, 1997.

The Cavaliers have a bye next Thursday before returning home on Sunday, January 21 when they host Virginia Tech (12-3, 1-1 ACC) at 12:30 p.m. at John Paul Jones Arena.

Single-game ticket prices for all home games are $10 for Reserved seating, $8 for adult General Admission and $6 for youth (18 & under), senior (60 & over) and UVA faculty/staff General Admission. Fans may purchase home game tickets through the Virginia Athletics Ticket Office online at VirginiaSports.com, by phone and in person. The Virginia Athletics Ticket Office is located in Bryant Hall at Scott Stadium and open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. Telephone purchases can be made by calling 1-800-542-UVA1 (8821) or locally at 434-924-UVA1 (8821).