Duke player admits Blue Devils thought Siena would be ‘a cakewalk’
By David Wasson
Published:
Leave it to Duke’s Maliq Brown… at least he was being honest.
The Blue Devils forward said the quiet part out loud at halftime of Thursday’s NCAA Tournament first-round game against 16th-seeded Siena, admitting that top-seeded Duke didn’t exactly lean into what the Saints could do to them through the first 20 minutes in Greenville.
“A lot of us were kind of nervous and got punched first, so we have to respond back,” Brown said. “We thought it was going to be a cakewalk going into this game so now we know what it is, so we just have to respond back the way we usually do.”
Brown and the Blue Devils took plenty of body shots from Siena in the first half and trailed 43-32 heading to intermission of their East Region first-round matchup. But Duke indeed responded in the second half, putting up a 39-22 period to pull away with a 71-65 victory.
Cameron Boozer led the Blue Devils with 22 points, Cayden Boozer had 19 points and Isaiah Evans added 16 points. Siena got 21 points from Gain Doty and 18 points from Francis Folefac.
Duke (33-2) advances to play ninth-seeded TCU, which escaped Ohio State 66-64 earlier Thursday, in Saturday’s second round. Siena, the upset-minded MAAC Tournament champs, ended its season at 23-12.
An APSE national award-winning writer and editor, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.
