Another late collapse ends the
season for a Duke team that looked good enough to win it all
[March 30, 2026]
WASHINGTON (AP) — Cayden Boozer tried to make one more pass
that would seal the win for Duke.
It turned out to be a mistake that cost the Blue Devils their
season.
Boozer's turnover in the final seconds led to Braylon Mullins'
3-pointer that gave UConn a 73-72 win over the top-seeded Blue
Devils on Sunday. Duke had led by 19 points late in the first half,
but it was another excruciating ending. Last year, the Blue Devils
lost in the Final Four to Houston after leading by 14 in the second
half and by six with 1:14 to play.
“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,” Duke
coach Jon Scheyer said. “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.”
Duke went 35-3 this season and wasn't that far from being
undefeated. The three losses came by a combined five points. The
others were 82-81 to Texas Tech at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 20,
when the Blue Devils had led by 17 in the second half, and 71-68 at
North Carolina on Feb. 7 on Seth Trimble's 3-pointer with 0.4
seconds left.
The same amount of time left after Mullins' shot Sunday.
Duke was up two when Boozer, being pressured near midcourt, tried to
pass to one of two teammates who were open deep. The ball was
deflected, and Mullins retrieved it seconds before making the
winning shot.
No. 1 seeds entered Sunday 134-0 when leading by at least 15 points
at the half. That number is now 134-1 after Duke was up 44-29 at the
break.
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Duke guard Cayden Boozer sits in the locker room after their Elite
Eight game of the NCAA college basketball tournament against UConn,
Sunday, March 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Stephanie
Scarbrough)
Scheyer, who is 124-25 in four seasons since
replacing Mike Krzyzewski, has the unfortunate habit of making his
losses more and more memorable as time goes by. The former Duke
guard, who won the 2010 national championship as a player, was at a
bit of a loss for words following this defeat.
“There’s not a person in this room, including me,
that doesn’t replay everything that you could do and how you can
help. I mean, obviously. That’s part of being in this seat. That’s
part of being in this spot,” Scheyer said. “End of the day, we’ve
got to finish it off. We’ll reflect. We’ll learn.”
Duke is now expected to lose star Cameron Boozer — Cayden's twin
brother — to the NBA.
Cameron Boozer, whose right eye was swollen as he sat glumly at the
postgame lectern, finished with a game-high 27 points.
“I’m hurting right now,” he said. “We’re all hurting.”
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