Survive and advance. That's the name of the game in March. That's what Duke did on Thursday in its NCAA Tournament opener against Siena, overcoming an 11-point halftime deficit to defeat the pesky Saints 71-65 in Greenville.
But no part of the Duke win inspired confidence that the Blue Devils are going to go on a Final Four run or win the program's first national title in 11 years. At least, not without center Patrick Ngongba, who missed the first-round matchup, and his status for the second round against TCU remains unknown.
Duke's defense stiffened up in the second half, but allowed Siena to score 43 points in the first 20 minutes. The Blue Devils had to resort to a zone in the second half, and got an assist from an exhausted Siena team as head coach Gerry McNamara played his starting five the full 40 minutes without subbing.
Duke looked as vulnerable as it has looked all season long, and narrowly avoided an embarrassing upset that would have completely ruined what had been a magical season up to that point.
Duke has some serious work to do before second round matchup vs. TCU
Hopefully, Ngongba will be available for the Round of 32. TCU's size on the interior could be real problematic if Cameron Boozer has to play the five spot exclusively.
Duke will also have to shoot better from three to get to the second weekend. That was always the big concern with this team. Outside of Isaiah Evans, there's not a lot of shooting with Caleb Foster out. And when Evans goes cold, that makes things incredibly difficult for the Blue Devils.
Evans was just 2-of-8 against Siena, and Duke as a team shot 5-of-26 from three. Fortunately, Cameron Boozer did his thing on the interior, forcing his way to the free-throw line and connecting on 13-of-14 from the charity stripe on his way to a team-high 22 points.
His twin brother, Cayden, provided a massive lift, scoring 19 points and dishing five assists with zero turnovers. Jon Scheyer will need those kinds of performances from him going forward for Duke to have a chance at a deep run.
Maliq Brown admitted at halftime that Duke thought this game was going to be a cakewalk. It turned into anything but, and it should serve as a massive wake-up call that Duke will have to bring its best game from here on out, or it'll be a disappointingly early exit for Scheyer's squad.