2017 MEAC Tournament champion Hampton University will be making its sixth NCAA Tournament appearance in eight seasons this weekend, earning a No. 15 seed and squaring off against No. 2 seed Duke in the first round.
The game will be played on Saturday in Durham, N.C. as part of the Bridgeport Region. The game is set to tip at 9 p.m. EST and will be televised on ESPN2.
This will mark the third time in Hampton’s last six NCAA appearances that the Lady Pirates will face Duke.
The Lady Pirates (20-12) defeated top seed Bethune-Cookman 52-49 this past Saturday in the MEAC Tournament championship game. Jephany Brown was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, and Monnazjea Finney-Smith was also named to the All-Tournament Team. Hampton is riding a six-game winning streak, and Saturday’s game was the program’s seventh appearance in the title game in the last nine seasons.
Hampton is 6-1 in those games, with all six wins coming under head coach David Six.
Duke, ranked No. 9 in the nation in the latest AP poll, went 27-5 overall and 13-3 in the ACC this season before falling 84-61 to Notre Dame in the conference tournament’s championship game. The Blue Devils boast three All-ACC honorees: Lexie Brown, Rebecca Greenwell and Leaonna Odom.