NU-Duke: Legitimate NCAA-Like Atmosphere

Pick, Buy, Print Your Own Seats to Duke Game

Video: Connie Yori's Sunday Press Conference

Randy York’s N-Sider

No one has to tell Nebraska women’s basketball fans what’s at stake Wednesday night when the No. 12-ranked Huskers (6-0) host No. 9-ranked Duke (6-1) in the ACC/B1G Challenge at Pinnacle Bank Arena. Big Red’s loyal fans are well aware of blueblood Duke’s four trips to the NCAA Final Four and two NCAA National Championship appearances since 1999.

If you’re a Husker fan who wants to see a great women’s basketball game with a legitimate NCAA Tournament kind of atmosphere, Christmas comes early. Make plans now to be inside the PBA on Wednesday, Dec. 3, at 6:30 p.m. It’s as easy as picking, buying and printing your own seats to the game right here. Now is an ideal time to support the Nebraska women in a prominent intersectional game on national television.

Three Huskers Started against Duke in 2013

Five Huskers, including three starters from the 2013 NCAA Sweet 16 team, circled this game in their minds when the 2014-15 schedule was announced. Then freshman Rachel Theriot (No. 33, 7 points) and then sophomores Emily Cady (No. 1, 4 points) and Hailie Sample (0 points) were starters when Duke beat the Huskers, 53-45, in the third round of the 2013 NCAA Tournament in Norfolk, Va. Nebraska, ranked No. 24, fought hard against the fifth-ranked Blue Devils after the Huskers upset Texas A&M at College Station to advance to the third round.

Tear’a Laudermill (7 points) and Brandi Jeffery (2 points) were Husker sophomores who came off the bench in that 2013 game. If you’ve just realized that all five 2014 Nebraska starters have played against Duke and scored a combined total of 20 points, you have a good idea of why this game is important to all five and why Nebraska Coach Connie Yori enjoyed an impromptu comic routine in Sunday’s press conference after the Huskers outlasted Northern Colorado, 63-56.

Press Conference Version of Who’s on First?

Sunday, when Lincoln sportswriter Ken Hambleton asked Nebraska’s head women’s basketball coach (pictured above) if she sought Wednesday’s nationally prominent game, Yori’s eyes lit up. “Sought?” she asked. “Sought would not be the word. Sought would not describe our matchup.” Hambleton then switched words and asked if Duke was the “last game” she wanted and if “you got forced into the game?” Check out the repartee between Yori and Hambleton 5 minutes and 30 seconds into Yori’s remarks at Sunday’s press conference. “Yes we got forced into this game. That is a true statement,” she told the media without blinking an eye. Finally, she cracked a smile and was on the verge of laughing out loud before she asked: “Are we rolling?”

Blue Devils, Huskers Almost Met Last March

Of course Yori knew the camera was rolling. She just wanted to make sure that her flippant remark in a comical interlude in no way reflects Wednesday night’s ultra-competitive challenge. The showdown will be nationally broadcast on the Big Ten Network, featuring two teams that had a chance to meet in the 2014 NCAA Women’s Basketball Regional in Lincoln last March. Unfortunately, Nebraska lost to BYU and Duke lost to DePaul in the 2014 NCAA second-round, preventing both from advancing to what might have become a near PBA sellout last March.

Fans of both teams will have to settle for two top 12 teams meeting Wednesday. Yori acknowledged in Sunday’s press conference how No. 5-ranked Texas A&M (7-0) beat Duke (6-1), 63-59. The Aggies capitalized on the opportunity to play Duke in College Station, Texas, without the Blue Devils’ leading scorer, rebounder and defender. Elizabeth Williams, a 6-foot-3 three-time AP All-American from Virginia Beach, Va., sprained an ankle vs. Stony Brook last Friday night and did not play at A&M.

No Word on Williams’ Availability Wednesday

The status of Williams, also a three-time ACC Defensive Player of the Year who led USA Basketball to three gold medals, remains uncertain. Nebraska is well aware of how ankle sprains to starters can influence outcomes. On March 31, 2013, in Norfolk, Va., then junior Nebraska starter Jordan Hooper landed wrong on a jump shot and spent the last 7 minutes and 55 seconds on the Husker bench. Williams is one of two current Blue Devils who played in that NCAA third-round game against Nebraska in Virginia. The other is Ka’lia Johnson, a 5-10 senior guard/forward who played four minutes in Duke’s win over Nebraska two seasons ago.

If Nebraska can beat a Top Ten Duke team Wednesday night at Pinnacle Bank Arena (pictured above), with or without Williams, the Huskers could find a way to break into the national Top Ten. Husker fans who have been waiting for the right time to see a well-seasoned Nebraska team play without Hooper, now in the WNBA, should wait no longer. Wednesday night just may be the first part of a daily double week at PBA, followed Sunday by the annual men’s showdown between Nebraska and Creighton. Both games should feature incredible atmospheres, and both need Husker fans to be at a fever pitch, even it is December instead of March.

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