"Cameron Boozer had 22 points and 13 rebounds for the East Region's headliner, which hit its first four shots yet need a comeback against a fearless upstart playing just five players right up to the final seconds. And yet, the Saints took it to the Blue Devils (33-2) at every turn."
"The No. 1 seeds entered the week with a 158-2 record against 16 seeds in the tournament, the outliers being Virginia's loss to UMBC in 2018 and Purdue's loss to Fairleigh Dickinson in 2023. And Duke -- a blueblood with five NCAA titles -- spent much of Thursday in serious danger of being added to that list."
"Gavin Doty scored 21 points to lead the Saints (23-12), with his third 3 giving Siena a 61-56 lead with 7:53 left. But Duke ran off 11 unanswered points to finally push ahead for good."
Duke's No. 1 seed faced an unexpected challenge from 16th-seeded Siena, trailing by 11 at halftime and falling behind 61-56 with under 8 minutes remaining. Cameron Boozer led Duke with 22 points and 13 rebounds, while Gavin Doty scored 21 for Siena. Duke executed an 11-point unanswered run to secure the 71-65 victory. This marked the first time a No. 1 seed trailed by double digits at halftime against a 16 seed. Duke's comeback prevented joining Virginia (2018) and Purdue (2023) as the only No. 1 seeds to lose to 16 seeds in tournament history.
Read at ESPN.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]