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NCAA Tournament: Friday's Sweet 16 matchups
Arizona dismissed Duke Thursday night, making the Blue Devils the second No. 1 seed sent home in this year's NCAA Tournament. In tonight's Sweet 16 action, four teams from the bottom half of the seeding try to continue their improbable runs and the two remaining No. 1 seeds try and hang on.
North Carolina Tar Heels guard Dexter Strickland (1) shoots against the Washington Huskies during their third round NCAA men's basketball game in Charlotte, North Carolina March 20. (Chris Keane/Reuters)
1. East Region (at Newark, Friday, 7:15 p.m. ET): (11) Marquette vs. (2) North Carolina
Marquette beat: (6) Xavier, 66-55; (3) Syracuse, 66-62
North Carolina beat: (15) Long Island, 102-87; (7) Washington, 86-83
Winner plays: winner of (4) Kentucky vs. (1) Ohio State
Marquette relied on a deep bench to pull off two shockers in the first two rounds. Against Xavier, they got 19 points from the reserves. In their second-round matchup with Syracuse, the Golden Eagles’ 27 bench points, highlighted by junior forward Jae Crowder’s 16, accounted for better than 40 percent of their total output.
UNC rolled against Long Island in the second round and found a way to gut it out against Washington in a thriller. Team free throw shooting has been a strength in the tourney: the Tar Heels have scored 49 points from the stripe in their first two games (49-65, better than 75 percent).
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