Hokusai News About

Should Duke be nervous after 'cakewalk' turns into near nightmare against No. 16 Siena?

· Yahoo Sports

Maliq Brown was delightfully candid with CBS sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson when asked to explain how the NCAA tournament’s No. 1 overall seed trailed 16th-seeded Siena by 11 points at halftime.

Visit likesport.biz for more information.

The Duke forward said that the Blue Devils were “nervous” playing on an NCAA tournament stage for the first time. Then Brown admitted that Duke also may have entered Thursday’s game overlooking a little-known opponent.

“We thought it was going to be a cakewalk,” Brown told Wolfson. 

The lingering question after Duke’s come-from-behind 71-65 first-round victory is whether that’s all that was wrong with the Blue Devils. Did this loss expose flaws that could bite Duke against stronger opponents? Or was this just an early-round wakeup call?

Yahoo Fantasy Women’s Bracket Mayhem: Make your picks for $50K in total prizes

The answer, as so often is the case, is somewhere in between. While Duke’s nonchalance likely played a role in its struggles, that wasn’t the only reason that the Blue Devils had to stage a furious rally to escape an inferior opponent.

As Duke showed in the ACC tournament, it can still win while missing two starters, but the Blue Devils’ margin for error is no longer so high without Patrick Ngongba and Caleb Foster. They’re vulnerable against opponents who can pack the paint and tempt them to shoot over the top. And they’re less smothering on defense when the rim protector lurking in the paint is anyone other than Ngongba. 

Draft your Yahoo Fantasy Baseball team for the 2026 MLB Season

The Blue Devils’ biggest concern should be how discombobulated they looked during the first half when Siena crowded the paint and sent multiple bodies at national player of the year-to-be Cameron Boozer anytime he touched the ball within 15 feet of the rim. A Duke offense that is typically paint-dominant began uncharacteristically settling for rushed 3s. 

Duke trailed for most of the game in its NCAA tournament first-round win over Siena. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)ASSOCIATED PRESS

More than half of Duke’s first-half shots came from behind the arc even though the Blue Devils sank only two of them. Duke finished the game 5-for-26 from behind the arc, the worst the Blue Devils have shot from 3-point range all season. 

“They did a great job protecting the paint,” Cameron Boozer said. “They make you settle for 3s. We took the bait on that.”

Duke’s renowned defense didn’t look a whole lot better as Siena built its lead over the course of the first half. A Saints team that entered Thursday among the worst in the nation at 3-point shooting suddenly couldn’t miss from behind the arc and also gashed the Blue Devils in the paint.

Some of it was deft passing and torrid shooting from Siena. Some of it was slow Duke rotations and the absence of Ngongba to alter shots at the rim.

The game flipped with Duke down 13 early in the second half, its largest deficit of the season. Siena’s Francis Folefac had a contested dunk carom hard off the back rim. Isaiah Evans chased down the long rebound and finished with a dunk of his own at the other end, igniting an 11-0 Duke run that lifted the Blue Devils back into striking distance.

Rather than posting Cameron Boozer up and allowing Siena to double team, Duke adjusted by using its superstar freshman as a driver and allowing him to attack. Cayden Boozer, only starting because of Foster’s fractured foot, was also sensational as the Blue Devils’ primary perimeter creator, racking up a career-high 19 points and five assists. 

Thirteen of Evans’ 16 points also came after halftime. His acrobatic driving layup with 4:25 to go gave Duke the lead for the first time since early in the first half. Dame Sarr helped make sure the Blue Devils stayed in front for good by soaring to block a Siena dunk attempt a few minutes later.

Duke coach Jon Scheyer called trailing Siena by double figures at halftime the “toughest position I've ever been in in the tournament, no question about it.” Scheyer described himself as proud of the resilience Duke showed but admitted that Siena coach Gerry McNamara “had his guys way more ready to play than I did.” 

“He outcoached me, he outcoached us,” Scheyer said. “That's one of the hardest moments for me in sport, period, to not have your best stuff.”

One big question for Duke heading into its second-round matchup against TCU on Saturday is whether Nnongba will be healthy enough to return. His interior defense will be critical for the Blue Devils surviving a loaded East region, let alone making a title push. 

A closer-than-expected first-round win certainly doesn’t mean that Duke is destined to flame out early in this NCAA tournament. There are numerous examples of national championship teams that survived an early scare. 

But the illusion of invincibility Duke once possessed is now gone.

On the opening Thursday of the NCAA tournament, the No. 1 overall seed unexpectedly looked very beatable. 

Read at source