There will be at least one No. 1 seed in the Final Four this year as Louisville took care of business against No. 2 Duke by way of a 85-63 win Sunday.
The first half between these two teams was very much the anticipated heavyweight match-up. Both teams went back and fourth trading punches with neither squad went up by more than four points. Entering the half Louisville held a slim 35-32 lead.
However the first half was overshadowed by tragedy.
Louisville guard Kevin Ware suffered a gruesome leg injury as he was coming down to block a three-point attempt. It was confirmed but obvious that Ware broke his leg as players from both teams had a hard time coming to grips with what happened.
In the second half, Louisville was finally able to compose themselves and use a 17-2 run to pull away from the Blue Devils.
The Cardinals once again used their strong defense to shut down Duke holding the Blue Devils to just 36.5 from the field while getting in their face and not allowing an open look.
Louisville’s Russ Smith had 23 points on 7-of-14 shooting while Gorgui Dieng had a nice game in the paint to go with his 14 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks.
Rick Pitino’s squad will now head to the Final Four to take on the surprising nine seed in Wichita State next Saturday at 6:05PM ET.
