Duke basketball is coming into March Madness as one of the favorites to make a deep run in the tournament, but they have a tough group to get past in order to get there. The first challenge they have in front of them is Siena, and they've already shown that they won't be an easy out.
Siena gave Duke all they could in the first half, and going into halftime, they were leading 43-32. It was something that many people didn't expect, including Duke. During a halftime interview, Maliq Brown was honest about what they thought about Siena coming into the matchup.
“A lot of us were kinda nerviouse. We need to respond back…. A lot of us weren't playing our basketball. Like I said, we thought it was going to be a cake walk going into this game. Now we need to respond the way we usually do,” 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."
Duke's Maliq Brown spoke with @TracyWolfson at halftime. pic.twitter.com/m5L8winCV9
— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) March 19, 2026
Luckily for Duke, they're able to play another half to try and get back into the game, but it's obvious that Siena won't make it easy for them.
Head coach Jon Scheyer made an admission about the team coming into the tournament, and he's looking at it as if they're starting 0-0.
“The mindset for our team going into the NCAA tournament is, we're starting fresh,” Scheyer said via Duke Men's Basketball on X, formerly Twitter. “It's 0-0 obviously, there's a lot of excitement in talking about the bracket, matchups, and all of the things that can happen. But for us it's about the first game. What are we doing the first game?”
So far, it looks like they have faced some adversity, and many want to see how they will answer.
