The Terrapin women’s basketball team is looking forward to a packed Comcast Center on Sunday when it plays North Carolina, but the topic of discussion at practice this week was not the anticipated final four rematch.

The Terps still have business to take care of on the road against a struggling Clemson team that has lost its past four games.

Instead of letting Clemson become a trap game, the Terps are using an innovative approach. They are pretending the Tigers are the Tar Heels.

“Not to look past them, but Clemson does a lot of things that Carolina does with their transition and quickness, so we have to prepare for Clemson because we have a very similar team coming next,” guard Kristi Toliver said.

“They’ll mix it up, do some pressing like UNC,” coach Brenda Frese said. “They are also very athletic.”

Surely, the Tigers lack much of the firepower the Tar Heels possess, but their similar style of play allows the Terps to tune up for Sunday while still focusing on picking up a road victory tonight.

It will be the first time the Terps play away from home since their loss at Duke.

“Obviously we learned a lot from Duke – a hostile environment there,” Toliver said. “Whether it be the same at Clemson, I don’t know. But for me, I’ve never played at Clemson, so it’s a bit of a difference there.”

One thing the Terps learned from Duke is the value of defense. Frese said she is satisfied with all other facets of her team, and that they have been focusing on defense for the past two weeks.

In their loss to the Blue Devils, the Terps allowed a season-high 81 points on 49.3 percent shooting.

“All our weaknesses were exposed [at Duke],” said sophomore Marissa Coleman, who, like Toliver, will be playing at Littlejohn Coliseum for the first time. “Thursday will be a big test for us. We’ve been focusing on transition D and second-chance points, so we’ll be able to see if we learned from our mistakes at Duke.”

Clemson is a small team that likes to run, just as the Terps do. The Terps know they can thrive in a shootout, but instead will opt to concentrate on slowing down the game and reducing transition opportunities for their opponent.

“We have to have serious defensive intensity,” junior forward Laura Harper said. “That’s the one hole in our game, and that’s something we have to change if we want to become an elite-caliber team.”

The same thing, defense, will decide the Terps’ fate against such teams as North Carolina, but don’t mention the names of Ivory Latta or Erlana Larkins to Terps players just yet.

“We’re not thinking about it,” Toliver said, referring to Sunday’s matchup with the Tar Heels. “We’re thinking about Clemson right now. When Thursday night is over, then we’ll get into Carolina mode.”

Contact reporter Mark Selig at mseligdbk@gmail.com.