Maliq Brown 'cakewalk' comments prove Duke was wrong to brush off Siena in near-upset loss

Despite No. 1 overall seed Duke's 71-65 win over Siena in the Round of 64, the victory was far from easy.

Duke went into halftime down 43-32 to the small school from New York, leaving the college basketball world stunned. Siena's biggest lead was 13 points with 19:36 to go in the second half. The Saints played four of their starters for the entire game, with the first and only sub coming with 11 seconds left. 

At halftime, CBS's Tracy Wolfson interviewed Blue Devils forward Maliq Brown. According to Brown, Duke believed this game would be a "cakewalk" heading into the game. That was definitely not the case.

With that in mind, here's a closer look at Brown's interview.

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Maliq Brown 'cakewalk' comments

According to Brown, the Blue Devils believed today's game against the 16-seed would be a "cakewalk."

In an interview with Tracy Wolfson right before the start of the second half, 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."

While the rough idea of what Brown was intending to say was evident in that Duke clearly underestimated Siena, it's typically spoken out loud. 

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Maliq Brown interview

At halftime, Siena led 43-32 over the No. 1 Blue Devils. Brown was interviewed by CBS's Tracy Wolfson. Here is what the forward said.

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