Duke head coach Jon Scheyer knows that his team, which nearly dropped the ball in the first round of March Madness, starts at the top.
During a sideline interview shortly after top-seeded Duke’s tightly contested 71-65 win over No. 16 Siena in a first-round East Region matchup on Thursday, Scheyer admitted that Saints head coach Gerry McNamara “outcoached” him on Thursday afternoon.
“G-Mac, he outcoached me,” Scheyer said. “They were more ready to play.”
Scheyer also said despite the close game, he was proud of his players for coming back to win after trailing by 11 at halftime.
“The readiness and the toughness by our guys just to weather that storm in the second half,” he said. “I’m proud of them. It’s great to get this win, and I think there is a lot we can learn for moving forward.”
Despite Siena’s loss, McNamara lauded the performance of his players, saying they played well enough to defeat Duke.
“I’m just really proud,” McNamara told reporters, according to The Associated Press. “I’m devastated for them because we were fearless. … I’m crushed for them because they played well enough to win.”
The Blue Devils struggled to gain an upper hand on Siena for nearly the entire game before finally getting control in the final eight minutes.
“A tournament’s all about your competitive readiness, and Siena had that as well as any team we’ve gone against,” Scheyer said. “We anticipated them trying to really do things to keep us out of the paint, and they executed great.
“The moments we made runs, they didn’t flinch.”
Star forward Cameron Boozer led the way for Duke, scoring 22 points and grabbing 13 rebounds while shooting 13-for-14 from the free-throw line in 39 minutes.
Boozer admitted his team must come out more prepared going forward in the tournament.
“I think we really didn’t come out ready to play today, and we’ve got to be better moving forward,” Boozer said.
Duke will next face TCU on Saturday in the Round of 32.
