By JAMES MADDEN
Siena had Duke on the brink of history on Thursday, trying to become the third No. 16 seed to defeat a No. 1 seed (2018 UMBC and 2023 Fairleigh Dickinson).
The Saints jumped out to an 11-point halftime lead and leading by as many as 13, which was Duke’s largest deficit of the season. Led by head coach Gerry McNamara, a leading candidate for the Syracuse head coaching job, Siena fell short in the closing minutes and was eliminated by No. 1 Duke, 71-65 in Greenville.
Duke forward Maliq Brown was interviewed by Tracy Wolfson at halftime where he said the team expected a “cakewalk” in Thursday’s matchup.
“We thought it was going to be a cakewalk going into this game so now we know what it is so we just have to respond back,” Brown said.
Duke outscored Siena 39-22 in the second half. Brothers Cam (22 points, 13 rebounds) and Cayden Boozer (19 points, 5 assists) combined for 41 points, 15 rebounds and 8 assists.
“We came out here with the mentality that they were just going to hand it to us, and obviously that’s not what happened,” Cam Boozer said. “We got punched in the mouth, so we just gotta learn from it going forward.”
Duke head coach Jon Scheyer didn’t contain his praise for McNamara, when asked about the Syracuse legend patrolling the opposing sideline.
“G-Mac, he out-coached me,” Scheyer said. “They were more ready to play and the readiness and toughness by out guys just to weather that storm in the 2nd half, proud of them.”
The Blue Devils will meet No. 9 TCU in the Round of 32 in Greenville on Saturday.
Follow James Madden on Twitter
Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter
Follow ZAGSBLOGHoops on Instagram
