The Duke Blue Devils were in danger of falling out of the NCAA tournament in the first round until a late comeback against Siena.
Only two No. 1 seeds in NCAA tournament history have lost in the first round. The Duke Blue Devils were dangerously close to becoming the third on Thursday. They became the first No. 1 seed to trail by double digits to a No. 16 seed at half, according to ESPN. Ultimately, the Blue Devils rallied out of the break and went on to beat the Siena Saints 71-65. It almost felt like Duke came out of the gate half asleep, with the lack of energy quickly contributing to a deficit that had the college basketball world on upset watch. But as the game clock ticked down in the second half, it was clear that the Blue Devils had worn down Siena’s starting five who hadn’t made a substitution until the final moments.
Duke entered the tournament as one of the most stacked teams with no obvious weakness, and they’ll have to take a look in the mirror after that narrow miss in the first round. They certainly have the talent, with freshman star Cameron Boozer leading the charge as the player to watch in the entire tournament. He finished the contest with a game-high 22 points and 13 rebounds. The talent won out in this round.
Here is the full story from Duke Roundtable writer Will Dalton on the close comeback.
The Blue Devils are against history now, as they became the eighth No. 1 seed to win by 6 points or fewer against a 16-seed. Three of those teams lost their next game; only one went to the Final Four. They’ll look to not become the fourth team in that former category against the No. 9 TCU Horned Frogs in the second round, who beat the No. 9 Ohio State Buckeyes 64-66 on Thursday.