No. 16 Siena nearly upsets No. 1 Duke in NCAA tournament without making a single substitution

Siena University came so close to March Madness history — in more ways than one. The Saints came within a few points of a massive upset over Duke, and they did it with all five of Siena’s starters playing the full 40 minutes.

Though the Blue Devils entered the game as 28-point favorites, Siena quickly took control of the game, leading Duke by double-digits at halftime. Duke ended up surging late for the 71-65 win, salvaging their March Madness run as the No. 1 overall seed.

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Technically, Siena did make one substitution in the final seconds: With ten seconds remaining, Brendan Coyle was taken out in favor of Christian Jones, the sole bench player to make an appearance in the game. Coyle was subbed back in two seconds later.

That sub keeps the team from playing all the way through with the same starting five, though Coyle is still credited as playing 40 minutes. Still, it was a valiant effort from Siena, who nearly pulled it off despite zero rest.

Those five players were grinding for the Saints throughout the game, going a combined 25-of-65 from the field and nabbing 31 rebounds. Sophomore guard Gavin Doty lead the team with 21 points, followed by freshman forward Francis Folefac with 18 points and seven rebounds, and senior forward Brendan Coyle with 12 points. Senior guard Justice Shoats and graduate center Riley Mulvey both got on the board as well.

Three players — Coyle, Folefac and Mulvey — ended with four fouls as a result of their hard play. (Head coach Gerry McNamara may have been lucky that none of them fouled out.)

The last school to play an NCAA tournament game without taking out any starters was DePaul in 1979, during a national semifinal.

The no-subs strategy may have come with positives and negatives. The grind and the consistency was certainly there, as McNamara tasked his best players with the team’s best chance at winning. But, foul trouble aside, the Saints starters simply looked gassed by the final minutes, and lost significant steam in the second half.

Duke also relied heavily on its starters, though not quite as extremely as Siena. Only two bench players got playing time on Thursday, with Nikolas Khamenia’s second-half three-pointer marking the only bench points for the team. Meanwhile, the Boozer brothers, Cameron and Cayden, played 39 minutes each in the win, combining for 41 points.

The Blue Devils will now move on to play No. 9 TCU in the second round, after the Horned Frogs upset Ohio State in the final seconds earlier on Thursday.