Jon Scheyer and the No. 1 overall seed Duke Blue Devils escaped with a 71-65 win over Gerry McNamara and the No. 16 seed Siena Saints in the first round of the 2026 NCAA Tournament. Now, Duke will move on to the second round, where they will face the No. 9 seed TCU Horned Frogs for a spot in the Sweet 16.
Despite being a heavy 28.5-point favorite (ESPN BET) on Thursday, Duke struggled against Siena. In fact, the Blue Devils went into halftime trailing 43-32 before finally taking the lead for good with just over four minutes remaining. Freshman sensation Cameron Boozer had a solid outing, posting 22 points and 13 rebounds in 39 minutes.
Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images
But McNamara, Siena’s second-year head coach, had his squad well prepared for the No. 1 team in the nation. The Saints held Duke to just 5-of-26 shooting from 3-point range, just 19%, compared to Siena’s 35%. McNamara’s team also limited its turnovers to just six while out-assisting the Blue Devils, 15-11.
Many college basketball fans noted that McNamara and Siena appeared more prepared for the opening-round matchup than Duke, and Scheyer agreed. In fact, following the game, instead of blaming his team or players for the near upset, Scheyer pointed to McNamara for having his team better prepared.
"I've known Gerry for a long time," Scheyer said. "GMAC had his guys way more ready to play than I did. He outcoached me, he outcoached us... I just think the tournament is all about your competitive readiness. And Siena had that as well as any team we've gone against. We anticipated them trying to do things to keep us out of the paint. They executed great and the moments we made runs, they didn't flinch. And I think that's a reflection of him and a refelction on his players. They were big time today and it took us everything we had to win it."
Scheyer and Duke will be back in action on Saturday, facing TCU in the second round.
