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 almost 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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Siena made a single substitution in the final seconds: With 10 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.

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That sub kept 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 led 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.

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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 were certainly there. But, foul trouble aside, the Saints starters simply looked gassed by the final minutes, and lost significant steam in the…

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Author : Kari Anderson

Publish date : 2026-03-19 21:50:00

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