Duke forward Maliq Brown said the quiet part out loud when he got interviewed at halftime by CBS Sports’ Tracy Wolfson during his team’s matchup against No. 16 seed Siena in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday.
After trailing by 11 points to No. 16 seed Siena at the intermission, Brown admitted his team thought it would be a “cakewalk.” Through the first 35 minutes of the game, it wasn’t anything but that for the No. 1 overall seed in its 71-65 win over Siena.
“We aren’t playing our basketball,” Brown said at halftime. “We thought it was going to be a cakewalk going into this game.”
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The Blue Devils, as a 27.5-point favorite, trailed by as many as 13 points during the opening minutes of the second half before storming back in the second half to survive what would’ve been one of the biggest upsets in NCAA Tournament history.
It might be the wakeup call Duke needed because if it plays like this again, an early exit in the tournament could be on the horizon. If one thing is for certain, it won’t get easier the rest of the tournament. Duke will face TCU, a dangerous No. 9 seed coming off a win over Ohio State, on Saturday in the second round.
The 13 points Duke trailed by marked its largest deficit of the entire season. The Blue Devils tied their largest halftime comeback win (11 points) in an NCAA Tournament game. The Blue Devils trailed by 11 points in the 2001 Final Four against Maryland.
Although it’s not uncommon for a No. 1 seed to trail at halftime to a No. 16 seed in the first round (it has happened 12 previous times), the deficit (11 points) was the largest of any team. Duke didn’t join Purdue and Virginia as the only No. 1 seeds to lose to a No. 16 seed, but it almost felt like it.
| Year | No. 1 Seed | No. 16 Seed | Halftime Score | HT Margin | Final Result |
| 2026 | Duke | Siena | 32-43 | -11 | W, 71-65 |
| 2023 | Purdue | FDU | 31-32 | -1 | L, 63-58 |
| 2019 | North Carolina | Iona | 33-38 | -5 | W, 88-73 |
| 2019 | Virginia | Gardner-Webb | 30-36 | -6 | W, 71-56 |
| 2014 | Virginia | Coastal Carolina | 30-35 | -5 | W, 70-59 |
| 2013 | Kansas | Western Kentucky | 30-31 | -1 | W, 64-57 |
| 2012 | Syracuse | UNC Asheville | 30-34 | -4 | W, 72-65 |
| 2002 | Kansas | Holy Cross | 35-37 | -2 | W, 70-59 |
| 1997 | North Carolina | Fairfield | 28-35 | -7 | W, 82-74 |
| 1989 | Georgetown | Princeton | 21-29 | -8 | W, 50-49 |
| 1989 | Oklahoma | East Tennessee State | 31-39 | -8 | W, 72-71 |
| 1986 | Duke | Mississippi Valley State | 37-40 | -3 | W, 85-78 |
| 1985 | Michigan | FDU | 20-26 | -6 | W, 59-55 |
Duke has been playing with fire this month. The Blue Devils nearly lost in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament against Florida State. It took a missed shot at the buzzer for the Blue Devils to advance to the semifinals. In the ACC title game against Virginia, the Blue Devils trailed in the second half before exiting with a 74-70 win.
During the ACC Tournament, Duke was without starters Caleb Foster and Patrick Ngongba II. With both players out, Duke coach Jon Scheyer tightened up his rotation, which elevated Cayden Boozer — the twin brother of presumptive National Player of the Year, Cameron Boozer — and Maliq Brown into the starting lineup. Duke plays just two bench players (Nikolas Khamenia and Darren Harris) with Foster and Ngongba out.
Duke isn’t going to get brownie points for winning a game against a No. 16 seed, even if two starters are out. Numerous teams in this year’s NCAA Tournament are playing without key players. North Carolina is without star forward Caleb Wilson, while Texas Tech hasn’t had star JT Toppin in the lineup for over a month. BYU won’t have Richie Saunders for the NCAA Tournament after he suffered a season-ending torn ACL last month.
Siena played its five starters all 40 minutes. Duke trailed in the game for a total of nearly 30 minutes before a bucket by Isaiah Evans with 4:25 remaining gave his team the lead back for good. Before that, Duke hadn’t led since it was 10-8 in the opening minutes of the game.
The Saints ran out of gas in a memorable effort during their loss against Duke. The Blue Devils are going to need to light a fire underneath them to avoid an embarrassing exit before the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament.
