“Sure, they probably have a little bit of an edge with some of our kids’ strengths and weaknesses,” MSU head coach Suzy Merchant said.

“I would think that’s a natural thing. If you’ve coached someone for a year or two years, you know what shoulder they like, what they don’t like defensively, maybe what they do well but you have to take away. But hopefully the biggest thing for us is having our keys that we have to play the best game possible to give ourselves a chance to win.”

Duke assistant coach Al Brown, who coached the frontcourt at MSU, leads scouting for the Blue Devils but said thinking there’s an advantage would be a mistake.

“You can get fooled by (thinking you know another team),” Brown said. “That’s some help, but they mature and grow and develop and change. So you never want to take anything for granted. So you have to go back and evaluate them just from ground zero, not from what you remember or whatever they were two years ago, because they’ve all changed and they’ve all improved everything else.”

Jefferson said she doesn’t think the Duke staff has an advantage, but the Spartans will need to execute in order to win the game.

“I think we need to, as players, just execute on the floor,” Jefferson said.

“If you’re good at what you do, it doesn’t matter who knows what you do. We knew what (Middle Tennessee State forward) Alysha Clark was good at and she still had 34 on us. It’s definitely going to take a lot of focus for us.”

DeHaan said she expects the game to be a battle of post players.

“I think the key for this game is more focused mentality than physicality,” DeHaan said. “A big key is attacking on the inside. They’ve got an All-American center and just great height, length and they’re athletic.”

Duke senior center Chante Black, who will guard the 6-foot-9 DeHaan, said she hasn’t received any tips from the coaching staff and plans on playing her game.

“I don’t have any sneaky insights on how to defend her,” Black said. “I’m just going to go out there and play my game and defend her the way we’ve been defending all year.”

In MSU’s favor, the Spartan players also have worked extensively in the Duke defense and may know where some weaknesses might lie in the matchup zone.

“It’s a great defense and you really have to know it inside out to execute out,” Jefferson said. “Every defense is beatable and we’ve watched film. I’ve talked with my coach about what the weak points are in there and hopefully we can execute that well.”

The second-round game between MSU and Duke tips off at 7:16 p.m. tonight at Breslin Center.