Grayson Allen is back in the news for all the wrong reasons. The Duke star was again caught for tripping an opposing player, this time Elon’s Steven Santa Ana, in the first half of the Blue Devils’ 72-61 victory. This is the third time Allen has been busted for tripping an opponent.
Mike Krzyzewski calls Grayson Allen’s latest tripping incident `unacceptable`
Now let’s see if the Duke coach disciplines him.
Ricky O'Donnell has covered basketball at all levels for more than a decade at SB Nation. He’s currently the Associate Director of Programming.
Allen was benched for the rest of the first half, but returned in the second half to finish with three points on 1-of-8 shooting in 21 minutes.
After the game, coach Mike Krzyzewski said he and Allen met with Santa Ana and Elon coach Matt Matheny. Here are Coach K’s comments and a full transcription of what he said:
“What Grayson did was unacceptable. I thought our whole team lost its composure. We got distracted,” Krzyzewski said. “After the game I asked Matt and Santa Ana if they would come meet with me and Grayson, so we met in our little coaches area there. Grayson apologized and he should. It’s not something you should do. He got punished.
“It turned the game around. We had an eight-point lead 32-24 and started to play real well. What happened was unacceptable. He knows it. I had a long talk with him afterwards. The right thing to do was to apologize in person. I appreciate Matt and the youngster coming over. As competitors as they are, (Santa Ana) said ‘I play hard, too,’ and I said ‘yeah but you kept your poise’ and he said as competitor to competitor, shake hands and let’s move on.
“I’m pleased Matt gave us an opportunity to do that.”
Allen was also quoted after the game saying: “I’m sorry to him, Santa Ana. I’m sorry to the officials who had to call that. I’m sorry to our team, that’s selfish and taking away from them. I’m not proud of it at all.”
It will be fascinating to see if Allen is suspended. If not, this may continue to happen.
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