The Duke Blue Devils could have found themselves on the wrong side of a bracket-buster in Round 1 of the 2026 NCAA Tournament.
Ranked as the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament, Duke trailed No. 16 seed Sienna by as many as 13 points. The Blue Devils went into halftime down 11.
At that point, they had made their mark for being the first No. 1 seed in NCAA Tournament history to trail a No. 16 seed by 10 points or more at halftime.
It didn’t look good, but Duke ended up prevailing, 71-65, thanks to 22 points from Cameron Boozer and 19 from his brother, Cayden Boozer. The Blue Devils also went on a 39-22 run in the second half.
Duke escaped, and at times it looked concerning, but head coach Jon Scheyer revealed after the game that he’s not worried about the close contest.
That’s just how it is in March Madness.
“It’s not concerning from the standpoint that, unfortunately, this is the nature of the tournament,” Scheyer said, according to Barkley Traux of On3. “Look, I wish it could just be smooth sailing. These guys, even though we have returners from last year’s team, we’re all in different spots.
“You can face a team like Siena. They’re incredibly ready to play. We made some mistakes early that they made us pay for. All of a sudden, you want to win very badly. So you can start making plays to try to get back in the game that are probably uncharacteristic of who we’ve been.”
Duke Blue Devils showed off grit in second half vs. Siena
Essentially, what Scheyer is saying is that Duke came out expecting to roll over Siena, while the Saints came out ready to play. The Blue Devils realized they were in a fight for their lives and started to play a bit stiffly.
They got out of the funk and ended up moving on. According to Scheyer, Duke showed toughness and grit, so you get the sense that he’s happier about his team bouncing back than he is concerned about the slow start.
“The toughness down the stretch, I just think that’s what this tournament is all about,” Scheyer said.
Up next for Duke will be the No. 9-seeded TCU Horned Frogs.