NEWARK, N.J. — No. 1-seed Duke men’s basketball faces No. 4-seed Arizona in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. After 20 minutes of play, the Blue Devils and Wildcats are in a tight 48-42 battle:

Familiar faces

When the two programs announced the 2023-24 home-and-home series, Duke head coach Jon Scheyer said, “For our fans and for college basketball, it will be exciting to see these storied programs over the next two years come together in two of the greatest on-campus venues in the sport.” How fitting that they now face off in perhaps the greatest postseason in all of sports. The Blue Devils took this season’s edition in Tucson, handling Tommy Lloyd’s squad 69-55. Arizona greatly improved over the course of the season, advancing to the final of the Big 12 Tournament. This is also former Tar Heel Caleb Love’s 10th time playing against Duke, though he hasn’t found much success with Tyrese Proctor defending him over the last three seasons. The Blue Devils are facing a group that desperately wants revenge. 

Brown’s back

Maliq Brown suffered two gruesome shoulder dislocations this season, first against Virginia and second against Georgia Tech in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals. In his singular healthy game in between, the regular-season finale against North Carolina, Brown hit two triples to help push his team ahead. He re-injured it in the first half of the following game. 

Just two weeks later, Brown returned with 7:51 remaining in the first half donning a sleeve on that left shoulder. Both centers, Patrick Ngongba II and Khaman Maluach, were in early foul trouble, with Ngongba getting his third before being subbed out. Brown passed up an open three, but remained aggressive on defense guarding Henri Veesaar. He grabbed his first board just under the six-minute mark, extending Duke’s possession and ultimately its small lead as Sion James found room for a layup. His minutes were limited, but he tallied a rebound, an assist and a steal in that time. 

Rebounding advantage, or lack thereof

In these teams’ first meeting, Duke outrebounded Arizona 43-30. The Blue Devils’ frontcourt simply dominated. This rematch started out more evenly, especially with Brown on the sideline until under eight minutes remaining. Cooper Flagg continued to impress with his effort, especially on the offensive glass. When he missed a layup at 10:25, he went back up for the rock twice, leading to Isaiah Evans’ first triple of the tournament. Mason Gillis grabbed one on each end as well. While the final rebound margin was only 15-12, the Blue Devils and Wildcats both had six second-chance points. 

Immediately following Alabama’s 110-point performance in which it drained 26 triples (a new NCAA Tournament record), both Duke and Arizona used the long ball early. James started the party on the Blue Devils’ third possession, and it snowballed from there. Anthony Dell’Orso knocked down two and Trey Townsend notched a third 3-pointer for the Wildcats on back-to-back-to-back possessions. Flagg and Proctor joined in as well. More than three minutes went by, with the only score from either side being a layup from the Sydney native. Then Evans took his first shot. Despite missing all seven 3-point attempts through the first weekend, the freshman knocked it through. Shots picked back up again in the final minutes of the half. While it wasn’t record-setting, a combined 14 3-pointers went through in the first half, with both sides ending up above 50%. 

Player of the half: Cooper Flagg

The freshman dominated on both ends of the court. He paced the team with 18 points collected through two triples, a few layups and a pair of free throws. His four rebounds led both sides; boards were hard to come by as both teams shot fairly well. In the later minutes of the first frame, Flagg made his living in the paint. He is as tall or taller than Arizona’s entire starting five, and he let them know. The Wildcats could not stop him on the drive, and with only one foul to his name, he had nothing to fear. After Love missed a three and Gillis grabbed the board, Flagg flew right down the court to nail a buzzer-beating triple to put Duke up 48-42 at the break. 

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Rachael Kaplan | Sports Managing Editor

Rachael Kaplan is a Trinity senior and a senior editor of The Chronicle’s 120th volume.