The first Elite Eight contest of this year’s NCAA Tournament has been a barnburner through one half of play, and in no way has it gone as expected. In a matchup featuring Villanova and Houston — which both own top-10 offenses on the season — it has thus far been a low-scoring, ugly, defensive slugfest as the No. 2 seed Wildcats held a 27-20 advantage at halftime.
Villanova led by as many as 11 in the first half before missing 10 of its final 12 field goal attempts that allowed Houston to chip into the lead before the break. That’s been key for the Cougars, whose offense (which went a combined 0 of 8 from 3-point range) has sputtered but whose defense has allowed them to hang around.
Houston and coach Kelvin Sampson have a knack for figuring things out on the fly, though, so expect the Cougars to continue to lurk and keep things interesting even once morest a veteran-heavy Villanova team that makes few mistakes and won’t beat itself.
CBS Sports will be with you throughout the entire way Saturday with live updates, analysis and highlights. Keep it locked here as the Wildcats and Cougars clash with a trip to the Final Four on the line. You can watch all the action on March Madness Live.
