All signs were pointing to Duke heading to the Final Four in their Sunday night matchup against UConn.
At one point, they even held a 19-point lead!
But in the end, it was the Huskies who came out on top, thanks to some impressive comeback efforts combined with Braylon Mullins’ incredible game-winning three-point shot with less than a second remaining.
So with that, it cemented the Blue Devils in the history books, but certainly not for the right reasons. Going into this game, No. 1 seeds in the tournament were 134-0 when leading by 15+ at halftime.
Now, they are 134-1.
Cayden Boozer Speaks With Reporters Following Duke’s Loss
After the game, reporters flooded Cayden Boozer’s locker, hoping to speak with the Duke star who was responsible for the devastating turnover that gave UConn the momentum and opportunity that resulted in the win.
The emotion was clear on his face and through his words, but he still vulnerably answered the questions
“I turned the ball over,” he said (per a video shared by On SI’s Matt Giles). “I should’ve been stronger with the ball. Cost our team our season.”
According to WRAL’s Brian Murphy, Boozer also spoke about feeling like he let his brother down as this could be the last time they get to play together.
Duke Head Coach Jon Scheyer ‘Disappointed’ Following Tough Loss
Jon Scheyer talks about the end of the Elite 8 loss against UConn. #MarchMadness
Shortly after the loss, Duke head coach Jon Scheyer went out to a crowd of reporters who were desperate to hear what he had to say about the team’s collapse.
“I could not be more disappointed and feeling for our guys,” Scheyer began. “At the same time, I’m just trying to process what happened. I don’t have the words. I don’t have the words.”
“What I do know is literally this team, what each individual player went through just to play the game, I’ve never seen anything like it,” he continued. “What these guys did to have to get ready, their foot injuries, he’s got a black eye, he’s playing the whole game. I’m incredibly sorry for these guys that they’ve got to go through this. This is on us. We’re going to be in this together. The year that this guy’s had has been absolutely incredible, absolutely incredible. I don’t have words other than just how proud I am of these guys and how disappointed we are.”
And after his opening statement, the first question Scheyer was asked was in regards to the final possession.
“Yeah, we just have to secure it,” he explained. “We got it. They had a foul. I was ready for a timeout. We’ve just got to hold on.”
“It’s easy to look at that play — I look at every play that happened, especially in that second half, this is not about one play,” Scheyer added. “It’s about every play that put us in that position, and that’s what you don’t want to do, where one play something could happen.”
Scheyer, who played college basketball at Duke from 2006 to 2010, joined the coaching program as an assistant in 2014, before being promoted to associate head coach in 2018. And then, when legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski retired, he was named the schools next head coach in 2022.
Duke Just Made History In One Of The Worst Possible Ways After Devastating Loss To UConn