Sweet 16 Simulation - (2) Duke vs. (3) Villanova

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Villanova Wildcats vs. Duke Blue Devils 10:00 ET

Thursday night kicks off the second week of March Madness, and as a part of the festivities, the #3 Villanova Wildcats (28-7, 17-14 ATS) will do battle with the #2 Duke Blue Devils (30-6, 17-17-1 ATS) in the nightcap. So far, both teams have split their sports betting proceedings in this tournament. Nova narrowly missed covering American in its 80-67 victory, but blew away the 2.5-point spread with an 89-69 romping of UCLA. On the other hand, Duke covered Binghamton with an 86-62 victory, but failed to cover the closing spread in its second round match-up with Texas. These teams haven’t met since 2000, and though the Dookies won the game 98-85 in Cameron Indoor Stadium, the Wildcats covered the lofty 19-point spread. Expect to see a more competitive result this time around!

(click here for your printable March Madness bracket)

Without further ado, let’s see how this Sweet 16 match-up of heavyweights went down…

1st Half

The three pointers were flying early and often from both clubs from the get go. After G Jon Scheyer opened up the scoring with a triple for the Dookies, G Scottie Reynolds fired back with a three of his own. At the first TV timeout, both teams had hit three 3-pointers, and Duke held a narrow 13-11 advantage.

Shooting went cold after that, as neither Duke nor Villanova could figure out how to find the bottom of the net. Both teams went scoreless for almost three minutes of game action, and it took a lay-up by Nova’s G Corey Stokes to squash the scoring drought. With just under 11:00 to go in the first half, the game was tied at 13 apiece.

Finally, the Blue Devils started to pick up the pace and find the net, as G Gerald Henderson and F Kyle Singler started to hit baskets with regularity. The Wildcats still struggled from the field, but were keeping within arm’s reach of Duke from the free throw line, where they were a perfect 10/10 in the first half.

With the half winding down, the Dookies were up 29-24 with possession of the basketball. Villanova couldn’t find a way to get a rebound to save its life, as Duke had the ball for the final 1:08 of the half. The blunders on the boards finally cost the Cats as the clock reached 0:00 when Scheyer nailed a triple from the corner to send the Dookies to the half up eight points. HC Jay Wright had to be preaching better shot selection from his Wildcats, as they only shot 28% from the field in the first half.

2nd Half

With all of the momentum in the world, Coach K and his Dookies came on the court in the second half with a purpose and tried to deliver the knockout blow. Sparked by a pair of threes from G Gerald Henderson and a monstrous dunk by C Brian Zoubek, the Blue Devils opened up a whopping sixteen point lead and appeared to be headed to the Elite 8 without a problem.

Wright called Villanova’s fourth timeout right at the 16:00 mark of the second half, sensing that the game was getting away from his squad. The next possession was a sign of things to come.