Duke Coach Says Game Against Siena Was 'Toughest' 1 vs. 16-Seed Matchup of Career

The Blue Devils, led by Scheyer, rallied in the second half to escape a loss at the hands of 16-seeded Siena. | Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

The No.1-seeded Duke survived a near-March Madness upset at the hands of No. 16 Siena on Thursday afternoon, when the Saints took advantage of a sleeping Blue Devils squad to get out to an 11-point lead heading into halftime.

Duke ultimately rallied hard to take home a 71–65 first-round win, but the fact that the Saints even came close to knocking down the Devils was a feat unto itself—heck, even Duke's Maliq Brown admitted that his team thought this tilt would be a cakewalk. But Siena came to play (Gerry McNamara kept his starters in almost the whole time), and very nearly gave us what would have been one of the tournament's very best busts.

Speaking after the game, Duke coach Jon Scheyer did not hesitate to credit Siena for its play and McNamara for his leadership, going so far as to admit that his Saints counterpart actually outcoached him when it mattered most. Moreover, he also deemed Thursday's game one of the "toughest" No. 1 seed vs. No. 16 seed matchups he has ever been a part of.

"Toughest one. Not close," Scheyer told the media, when asked how he'd rank this contest among other 16-1 games. "Toughest moment, toughest game. Toughest position I've ever been in in the tournament. No question about it. And you have to credit Siena for that."

"These games are fragile. Unfortunately, you have to lose some. I've been on the other end of some of these in the past, where you have great appreciation for it, but it doesn't mean you can avoid it. ... You have to credit Siena."

Star Duke freshmen Cameron and Cayden Boozer were similarly complimentary of Siena as they mused on their team's well-timed comeback.

"That game was ours to take," Cameron told the room. "The first half, we put ourselves in that position. We knew we were going to be able to come out of it. We just had to come together, do what we do."

Added Cayden: "You gotta give Siena a lot of credit. They played way harder than us in the first half. We had to just regroup."

Next up, Duke will take on No. 9 TCU—who defeated No. 8 Ohio State, 66–64, on Thursday, as well—in the second round.

Jon Scheyer's history of 1-seed vs. 16-seed games

As both Scheyer and the reporter alluded, the Duke leader has previously played in and coached many an initially lopsided tournament game (as you would expect with one of the top basketball programs in the country).

For one, when Scheyer was a guard on the Duke team in 2009-10, the then-No. 1 Blue Devils opened their championship run with a 73-44 first-round win over the No. 16 Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions.

Scheyer then faced more such matchups as an assistant/associate coach under the legendary Mike Krzyzewski from 2013 to 2022.

In 2014-15, for example, the Blue Devils walloped No. 16 Robert Morris 85-56 in the first round of the NCAA tournament (Duke would go on to win the title that year). In the 2018-19 iteration, a top-seeded Duke prevailed over No. 16 North Dakota State in round one, 85-62. And of course, there was also last season's opening defeat of Mount St. Mary's, 93-49, when Scheyer had already assumed his position as head coach.

All to say—if you take a look at Duke and Scheyer's history in this type of matchup, it really does underscore the magnitude of Siena's near-win. Hats off to the Saints.

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