Duke's Grayson Allen sinks 7th-ranked Virginia with buzzer-beater
DURHAM, N.C. — With the game in the balance, Duke guard Grayson Allen powered his way down the lane and flipped the ball off the backboard.
Virginia wanted a traveling call. The Blue Devils thought he was fouled.
There weren't any whistles, and Duke wound up with a buzzer-beating win.
The Blue Devils beat the seventh-ranked Cavaliers 63-62 on Saturday on that shot Allen banked in at the horn.
"When Coach drew up the play, and I knew it was coming to me, I really, really wanted to make a play," Allen said. "And so I did."
Malcolm Brogdon had 18 points for Virginia (20-5, 9-4 Atlantic Coast Conference), and his reverse flip layup with 9.9 seconds left put the Cavaliers up 62-61.
Freshman Brandon Ingram scored 25 points while Allen finished with 15 for the Blue Devils (19-6, 8-4), who won their fourth straight and kept the Cavaliers winless at Cameron Indoor Stadium since 1995.
Duke called a timeout with six seconds left, with coach Mike Krzyzewski later saying he instructed Allen: "You go. See what's there."
Allen inbounded the ball to Marshall Plumlee, who handed it right back to the sophomore guard.
"Get the ball in Grayson's hands, don't do anything stupid, try to make a read," Plumlee said. "I did my part. Grayson did the hard part."
Allen drove the left side of the lane on defender Marial Shayok, then went airborne while flinging up a one-handed shot that kissed off the glass and went through at the buzzer.
"I joked to Coach K, 'I think he traveled,'" Virginia coach Tony Bennett said. "He said, 'Well, I think he got fouled.'"
Matt Jones finished with 14 points and Plumlee had 10 rebounds for the Blue Devils. After failing to beat a Top 25 opponent for the first three months of the season, they have now knocked off two in six days after beating No. 13 Louisville on Monday night.
Anthony Gill had 12 points for the Cavaliers, whose seven-game winning streak was snapped. They lost their 17th straight visit to Cameron — a slide dating to the year of Krzyzewski's extended absence — and haven't beaten Coach K here since 1993.
They pulled to 61-60 when London Perrantes hit two free throws with 1:50 to play and came up with three straight defensive stops after that but struggled to score at the other end.
Brogdon missed a 3-pointer with about a minute left, then missed a running jumper in the lane with about 30 seconds to play.
Allen missed two free throws with 27.3 seconds left, before Shayok found Brogdon in the post and he hit that over-the-shoulder flip over Jones that briefly put Virginia up.
"I did want it to come my way, just because I wanted another opportunity after missing those free throws," Allen said.
STAT LINE
Ingram single-handedly brought Duke back from an 11-point deficit. He finished one point shy of his season high and was the only Blue Devil to score during a five-minute span that bridged the halves, reeling off 18 consecutive points for his team and putting Duke up 41-40 with a jumper with 16 minutes left. Bennett says the problems he created showed up on the boards, where Duke outrebounded the Cavaliers 24-10 in the second half. "We just couldn't match up with Ingram," Bennett said.
TIP-INS
Virginia: The Cavaliers' last three visits to Cameron have been decided by a total of eight points. This was just their second visit since 2012, losing their last game here in January 2014 when Rasheed Sulaimon — who has since transferred to Maryland — bounced in a 3-pointer in the final seconds.
Duke: The Cameron Crazies wore party hats to celebrate Krzyzewski's 69th birthday. ... With the NBA on its All-Star break, two members of last year's title-winning team — Philadelphia 76ers big man Jahlil Okafor and Minnesota Timberwolves guard Tyus Jones — watched from baseline seats.
UP NEXT
Virginia; Hosts N.C. State on Monday night.
Duke: At No. 9 North Carolina on Wednesday night.
