No. 1 Duke Survives First-Round Scare vs. No. 16 Siena

The Duke Blue Devils got more than they bargained for against No. 16 Siena on Thursday.

Duke Blue Devils forward Cameron Boozer reacts while getting a rebound against Siena Saints center Riley Mulvey. | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

It’s safe to say that No. 1 Duke got more than it bargained for in its first-round matchup against No. 16 Siena to start the 2026 NCAA tournament. What was likely the game that sports fans spent the literal least amount time thinking about while building their brackets, turned out to be quite the barnburner, with the Saints very nearly joining the ranks of UMBC and Fairleigh Dickinson in NCAA tournament lore.

The Blue Devils entered the tournament as the top-ranked team in the entire field, but were quickly informed that they would not simply be waltzing through to the round of 32.

The two teams started out trading baskets leaving the game tied 16–16 eight minutes into the action, but the Saints would go on a run to close the half, and head into the halftime break with a 43–32 lead, leaving the Blue Devils in uncharted territory as a No. 1 seed.

At the halftime break, Duke forward Maliq Brown admitted that his team had taken their opponents too lightly before tipoff.

“I feel like a lot of us were nervous. We just got punched first,” Brown told CBS’s Tracy Wolfson en route to the locker room. “We thought it was going to be a cakewalk going into this game. Now we know what it is. We’ve just got to respond back the way we usually do.”

"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."

Duke's Maliq Brown spoke with @TracyWolfson at halftime. pic.twitter.com/m5L8winCV9

— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) March 19, 2026

It was a damning admission from a player on the top team in the country, but it was certainly an honest one. Duke was out-hustled and outplayed through the first 20 minutes of action.

Duke battled its way back into the fight in the second half, but Siena refused to roll over—the Blue Devils didn’t lead in the second half until there were under five minutes left to play.

Saints respond AGAIN ‼️#MarchMadness @SienaMBB pic.twitter.com/RD3Za55s7D

— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 19, 2026

But eventually, Siena hit a brutal scoreless drought, going five minutes without a made basket and handing Duke the lead. While the Saints did their best to battle back, all five starters had still yet to see the bench in the game, and at that point, were clearly gassed on the court.

Duke held on to win, but not without learning a valuable lesson you can only learn in March—you cannot underestimate any opponent. Blue Devils coach Jon Scheyer openly admitted after the game that he was bested by Siena coach and longtime Syracuse assistant Gerry McNamera, even if Duke did ultimately come out on top.

“G-Mac, he out-coached me. They were more ready to play,” Scheyer told Wolfson after the game went final with a 71–65 Duke win. “The readiness and toughness of our guys to weather that storm in the second half, I’m proud of them. It’s great to get this win. I think there’s a lot that we can learn moving forward.”

The win gives the Blue Devils a bit of breathing room, but it won’t last for long, as they have a date on Saturday with a feisty No. 9 TCU squad who opened the tournament with an impressive win over No. 8 Ohio State.

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