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David Hale
multiple authors
Greenville, SC — ruler Coach Jon Scheyer said he was outcoached and prepared better sienaGerry McNamara on Thursday, as his top-seeded Blue Devils needed a late rally to overcome a double-digit deficit and advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
According to ESPN Insights, Duke fell by half a point (11 points) to become the first No. 1 seed to fall to a 16-seed, but the Blue Devils came out with a new focus after the break and defeated the defeated Saints. 71-65.
“That was a game we had to take,” Dukes said. cameron boozerJoe finished with a game-high 22 points along with 13 rebounds. “In the first half, we put ourselves in that position. We knew we’d be able to come out of it. We just had to come together, do what we had to do.”
Boozer lamented the lack of energy in the early going, but in the second half it was clear the Blue Devils had more in the tank than Siena’s starting five, who played the entire game without a replacement until the final seconds.
Siena shot only 23.5% in the second half, including a few missed dunks and shots around the net, allowing the lead to shrink to 13 points at the half. A late 9–0 Duke run turned Siena’s three-point lead into a six-point Blue Devils lead with 1:36 left to play.
“We knew that, once we got a stop, we could run,” Duke Isaiah Evans Said. “I knew that once we saw it, instead of saying it, it would fall in line with what we were trying to do.”
McNamara was emotional after the defeat, crediting his players with an “excellent” performance and defending his decision to play his starters at full-time.
“You’re looking at a guy who played 40 minutes,” said McNamara, who won a national title and made four NCAA tournaments as a Syracuse player. “We just came from here [the MAAC tournament in] Atlantic City is doing much the same thing. …And I asked him, not like I would say, ‘Are you good?’ So they will tell me the truth. They tell me ‘yes.’ I would say the same to my coach, even if I’m fine. He gave us everything.”
McNamara is considered a leading candidate for the vacant Syracuse job, and his performance in leading the nation’s top team to the wire has certainly underlined his credentials.
Scheyer said Thursday’s game was “the toughest moment, toughest game, toughest situation we’ve ever faced in the tournament.” He credited McNamara with devising a great game plan to slow down Boozer, the favorite to win the national player of the year award, and force Duke into a perimeter game in the first 20 minutes.
“[McNamara] “Outcoached me, he outcoached us. That’s one of the toughest moments for me in the game, when you don’t have your best stuff,” Scheyer said.
Scheyer compared Thursday’s win to Duke’s narrow victory over Florida State in the ACC Tournament a week earlier — a comparison that either provides evidence of Duke’s ability to overcome a hot opponent or a warning sign that ultimately, the Blue Devils will fall victim to their own missteps. they play No. 9 seed TCU In the second round on Saturday.
For now, though, Scheyer was happy to get the win – no matter what it took.
“It’s the nature of the tournament,” he said. “I want everything to go smoothly. … We made some mistakes in the beginning, which they made us pay for. All of a sudden, you want to win so badly. So, you start making plays that are probably uncharacteristic for us to try to get back into the game. These guys, the character they’ve shown. … The toughness that’s been shown slowly, I think that’s what this tournament is all about.”
