Mike Krzyzewski’s final visit to Littlejohn Coliseum as Duke’s basketball coach ended up good for the Blue Devils and bad for Clemson. Duke’s 18-point victory also included an ugly sequence.
With the Blue Devils leading 27-20 with a little more than 3 minutes left in the first half Thursday, Wendell Moore Jr. stripped David Collins and took off the other way for a dunk. Collins, in hot pursuit, undercut Moore mid-flight, causing Duke’s junior guard to crash to the hardwood beneath him without being able to brace his fall.
The hard foul combined with Moore’s subsequent hard landing drew an audible gasp from many of the fans watching inside Littlejohn Coliseum, and Moore stayed down for a few seconds. Krzyzewski sprang out of his chair on the Blue Devils’ bench as the foul drew the ire of Duke’s coaching staff. Moore eventually got up under his own power and walked it off, but after video review, Collins was assessed a flagrant 2 foul and ejected from the game.
Brownell said “the last thing we’re trying to do is hurt anybody,” adding it was a moment in which his frustrated senior guard let his emotion get the better of him.
“He’s a very competitive player,” Brownell said. “And I think he thought he got fouled on the play down there (on offense), so he’s fighting like crazy to get back in the play. And then he makes the wrong play. “
Collins explained the play from his vantage point and issued a public apology in a post to his Instagram account immediately following the game, but he expressed regret to Krzyzewski well before that. Before Collins left the court, Brownell walked him over to Duke’s bench so he could apologize to Krzyzewski, who called it “one of the most dangerous plays I’ve ever seen” because of Moore’s body being parallel to the ground at one point during his fall.
But Duke’s Hall of Fame coach had no hard feelings afterward. He gave Collins a hug before Collins headed to the locker room early.
“(Brownell) is good people, and his kids are good people,” Krzyzewski said. “We didn’t want that to escalate, so the fact he brought him and we did some interaction, I thought that was really good.
“You put it behind. And Brad apologized after it, and I said, ‘Please, let’s just move on.’”
Brownell said he took Collins over to Krzyzewski so he could apologize to him in person. As for the play itself, Brownell opined he didn’t think Collins had any bad intentions, particularly considering Collins had been on the receiving end of a similar foul two days earlier in Clemson’s loss to North Carolina.
“Obviously we take a lot of pride in how we do things in our program from how we play to who we are on and off the court, and so it was certainly a situation,” Brownell said. “Ironically, the same play happened to David against North Carolina. He got fouled hard, and there was a flagrant 1. He just had that happen to him, and I thought he got hurt. So he was very emotional with it.”
Brownell said he also made Collins apologize to his teammates after Clemson had to play the last 23 minutes and change without their leading rebounder and third-leading scorer. Already playing without injured forward Hunter Tyson, the Tigers allowed 44 points in the second half with Collins unavailable.
“He feels awful,” Brownell said. “Not only does he make a bad play that puts somebody in danger, but he also isn’t there for our team. If you’re his teammate, we don’t have him for the last 26 minutes. And we need him. We need him to guard (Duke point guard) Trevor Keels, (AJ) Griffin and their bid-bodied guys. We’re out there with our little guards with guys like that, and it’s a problem.
“It’s a teaching moment. It happens.”
A flagrant 2 foul doesn’t come with an automatic suspension, so Collins would be able to return to action Saturday when Clemson hosts Notre Dame unless Brownell decides to hand down his own suspension. As for Moore, he bounced back to play 19 minutes in the second half, though all eight of his points came in the first.
Krzyzewski said Moore is “good” physically and is expected to suit up for the Blue Devils when they play Boston College on the road Saturday.
“I hope he’s good,” Krzyzewski said. “We’ll see tomorrow after the plane ride and all of that. It’s best to move on.”
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