We could be less than an hour away from an historic NCAA Tournament because the 1-seeded Duke Blue Devils are getting all they can handle and more from 16-seeded Siena.
It's not much of an exaggeration to say that the Saints dominated the Blue Devils in the first half. Gavin Doty and Francis Folefac have been nigh unstoppable and got Siena out to a 43-32 halftime lead.
But it isn't just the play on the court that has fans in Raleigh-Durham nervous for the ACC champions. According to statistics, Duke is the first 1-seed in NCAA Tournament history to trail against a 16-seed by double-digits at halftime. And that includes 2018 Virginia and 2023 Purdue, who fell to UMBC and Fairleigh Dickinson respectively.
"Eye-opening stat: Duke is the FIRST-EVER 1-seed to trail a 16-seed by double-digits at halftime in NCAA tournament history, per ESPN Research," Jeff Borzello wrote on X.
History in the Making?
When UMBC shocked the world by knocking out Virginia in 2018, the writing wasn't exactly on the wall early on. The two teams were tied 21-21 before the Retrievers turned it on with a whopping 53 points in the second half to win that game 74-54.
Even when FDU upset Purdue five years later, the game was pretty darn close early on. The Owls led the Boilermakers 32-31 after the first 20 minutes and had a close game all the way to the final minute in a 63-58 win.
And we've barely even spoken about Siena, who aren't exactly an NCAA blue blood. This is only their seventh trip to the NCAA Tournament, where they're 4-6 (3-6 if we discount the First Four). They do have a little bit of history in swinging big upsets though.
In 2008, Siena shocked the world by beating 4-seeded Vanderbilt as a 13-seed. The next year, they beat Ohio State in double overtime.
But the X-factor in this game could wind up being the head coach. Gerry McNamara, in his second year with the team, studied Duke extensively for two decades as a player and then an assistant under Jim Boeheim at Syracuse.
McNamara helped take down the Blue Devils on plenty of occasions over his two decades before joining the Saints, but this could be his masterpiece.
The game is being played on CBS.
