The Final Four is set, and Duke's March Madness run is over. Duke lost to UConn in stunning fashion on Sunday night in the Elite Eight to end their season. They seemed to have the win secured, but a blunder by freshman Cayden Boozer gave UConn a chance to win the game, and they did just that.
After the game, Boozer spoke about the play to the media, according to Matt Giles of Sports Illustrated.
“I turned the ball over, I should’ve been strong with the ball,” Boozer told reporters in the Duke locker room. “I cost our team our season. I could’ve been strong with the ball and I let our team down.”
Boozer said all of this through tears, as Duke blew a massive lead. They were up as much as 19 in the first half, and would be up by 15 at the halftime break. There were just ten seconds left in the game with Duke up 2 when Boozer made the mistake that cost his team the game.
“I saw two guys open,” Boozer said. “I was just trying to get it there, but I could have taken my time. We just had a lot of time. I turned the ball over. I lost it. I ruined our team’s season.”
While Boozer tried to take full responsibility for the loss, head coach Jon Scheyer would not allow that, according to Steve Wiseman of The News and Observer.
“I’m incredibly sorry for these guys that they’ve got to go through this,” the Duke coach said. “This is on us. We’re going to be in this together. I don’t have words other than just how proud I am of these guys and how disappointed we are.”
“I will never let him say that again, because he didn’t fail us at all,” Sarr said. “He picked us up.”
