GREENVILLE, SC—Cinderella was on the prowl at the Bon Secours Center, but Duke manage to emerge unscathed from the tournament’s first weekend.
The Blue Devils escaped an upset-minded Siena, then pulled away from TCU to advance to the Sweet 16 in Washington, D.C.
“I’m just really proud of them for coming off three games in a row last week,” coach Jon Scheyer said. “Thursday finding a way to win. Second half again, just finding a way. And now we have to get refreshed the next two days, find out who we’re playing, and keep this thing rolling.”
Things almost rolled to a halt in the first March Madness game Duke played. The Blue Devils narrowly missed suffering what would have been the biggest upset in NCAA Tournament history, escaping with a 71-65 win over Siena. 16-seeds have beaten 1-seeds before, but never has the tournament’s top-ranked team suffered an opening-round loss to a 16. Duke became the first 1-seed to trail by double digits at the half when the Saints hit the locker room up 43-25. The lead grew to as large as 13 in the second half, which was the largest deficit the Blue Devils faced at any point this season.
“Toughest one, not close,” said Duke coach Jon Scheyer. “Toughest moment, toughest game, toughest position I’ve ever been in in the tournament.”
Amazingly, Siena played the entire game without substituting. The five starters all played the full 40 minutes.
“You’re looking at a guy that played 40 minutes a lot,” said coach Gerry McNamara, who played at Syracuse and may have just moved into the frontrunner position for the Orange’s coaching vacancy. “We just got here from Atlantic City (where Siena won the MAAC Tournament) doing pretty much the same thing … These kids were just on it. Our energy was elite.”
Still, it was not enough. Duke tightened up its defense in the second half, with the help of a zone defense that the Blue Devils turned to for part of the stretch run. After shooting 55% in the first half and outrebounding Duke by five, Siena shot just 24% after the break and lost the battle of the boards 30-13 in the second half. The Blue Devils used a 16-1 run to erase the Siena lead and pull in front. Duke will play No. 9 TCU on Saturday for a spot in the Sweet 16.
“Obviously, we played our heart out,” said Brendan Coyle, who hit four three-pointers for a team that entered the game ranked No. 331 in the country in three-point shooting. “But close doesn’t count for much.”
On Saturday, the Blue Devils got an important boost, when sophomore center Patrick Ngongba, who had missed the previous five games with a foot injury, played his first game in three weeks.
Ngongba played just 13 minutes off the bench, and his four points and four rebounds were below his season averages (10.5 points, 6.0 rebounds). His presence, however, gave a lift to a team that has struggled without two starters—junior guard Caleb Foster is also recovering from a foot injury.
“We’re more whole with Pat being back,” said Scheyer.
It allowed leading scorer Cameron Boozer to get additional rest. Boozer’s 33 minutes were his lowest since the last game Ngongba played. He averaged 37.4 in the five contests Ngongba missed. His presence in the post also created room for Boozer, who has been double and triple teamed mercilessly down low. Ngongba had four assists, finding Boozer with passes in the paint as defenders converged on the ball.
“He gave us a lot of juice coming back,” Boozer said. “Even just walking through. To see him out there, we all got happy, ecstatic. I almost started jumping around and stuff, just because we know how hard he works and we know how much he means to the team. We’re just super happy to have him back for sure.”
Foster is likely out at least another week, meaning the Blue Devils will be a man down for the Sweet 16 matchup against No. 5 seed St. John’s. The Big East champions beat No. 4 Kansas to sent Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino into the next round.
Also in the region will be No. 2 UConn and No. 3 Michigan State. Pitino, UConn’s Danny Hurley and MSU’s Tom Izzo all have national championships, while Scheyer will be looking to get his first as Duke’s head coach.
In his fourth year at the helm of the Blue Devils, Scheyer gained valuable experience last weekend.
“Look, I wish it could just be smooth sailing,” he said. “These guys, even though we have returners from last year’s team, we’re all in different spots. You can face a team like Siena.”
