No. 1 Duke survives first-round NCAA Tournament scare against No. 16 Siena
The No. 1 Duke Blue Devils, favored to win the men’s NCAA tournament, narrowly escaped the Round of 32 with a 71-65 victory over the No. 16 Siena Saints on Thursday.
The Blue Devils trailed from 15:31 of the first half until 4:25 of the second, when a layup by Isaiah Evans finally gave Duke the lead. The Blue Devils finished the game on a 15-4 run to extinguish any hopes of an upset.
No. 16 seeds have only upset No. 1 seeds twice before in the men’s tournament, in 2018 and 2023.
Gavin Doty was outstanding in the Saints’ loss, scoring 21 points. He was helped by Francis Folefac, who added 18. But they both calmed down in the second half, as did the rest of the team. After shooting 17 of 31 from the field in the first half, Siena made just eight of its 34 field goal attempts in the second half.
At one point, the Saints went more than six minutes without scoring, allowing Duke to regain the lead.
The Saints gambled by not making any substitutions until the final minute of the match, almost becoming the first team since 1979 to play their starters every 40 minutes.
The Boozer brothers, Cameron and Cayden, led the way for the Blue Devils. Cameron scored 22, doing much of his damage from the free throw line, where he was 13 of 14. Cayden added 19 on 9 of 16 shooting.
The Blue Devils improved to 33-2 on the season with this victory. Duke will now face No. 9 TCU — which beat No. 8 Ohio State earlier Thursday — in the round of 32.
