Duke's Grayson Allen had a meltdown after his rogue leg struck again
Mighty Elon gave No. 5 Duke all it could handle in the first half of their game Wednesday at the Greensboro Coliseum, and once again, Grayson Allen was making headlines for a curious sweep of his leg.
The Blue Devils led 32-24 when Elon guard Steven Santa Ana was driving along the baseline and got tangled up with Allen, who kicked his right leg up and hooked onto Santa Ana's leg as he spun away. You can see it in the video above.
It's the latest chapter in the story of Allen's ongoing knack for having his leg end up in the way of his opponents. He had multiple incidents last season and was reprimanded by the ACC after tripping Florida State's Xavier Rathan-Mayes and Louisville's Ray Spalding in the span of a few weeks. He had another during an NCAA Tournament game against Yale.
Allen was called for a foul on the play, then for a technical foul. He was in near hysterics on the bench afterward, which you can see at the end of the video above. He didn't play the rest of the half.
Perhaps it motivated the Phoenix? From that point, Elon went on an 11-2 run to end the half and take a 35-34 lead. Duke rebounded and went on to win 72-61. Allen had three points on 1-of-8 shooting.
Allen apologized and was still very emotional after the game, per the AP:
"I mean, I don't plan on doing it again," Allen said as he fought back tears. "I made another mistake. I have to try to be better again, just like I tried to be better from last year."
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"I made a really bad play," Allen said. "I'm sorry to him, Santa Ana. I'm sorry to the officials who have to call that. I'm sorry to my team, it's selfish and it took away from them. I'm not proud of it at all."
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said Allen apologized to Santa Ana and Elon coach Matt Matheny in person after the game, also per the AP:
"I had a long talk with him afterwards," Krzyzewski said. "And the right thing to do was to apologize in person. ... I'm pleased that Matt gave us an opportunity to do that."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
