Grayson Allen’s Long Nightmare Is Over: ‘Indefinite Suspension’ Lasted One Game

Krzyzewski led the Blue Devils to a 110-57 win over Georgia Tech Wednesday night and is now expected to miss up to four weeks after having back surgery on Friday. “Although it’s not going to be great to not have the ultimate leader out there, I think from the standpoint of hearing Jeff’s voice, it’s not going to be as different”. “With the proper recovery time, we look forward to Mike doing what he does best – leading and teaching – very soon”.

Krzyzewski cited a lack of cohesion among his team for the poor performance at Virginia Tech and said it’s been evident in each of the last three games even though Duke beat Tennessee State 66-55 and Elon, 72-61. That game served as the opener of the team’s Atlantic Coast Conference schedule.

Grayson Allen’s latest tripping incident didn’t keep him off the court for long. He also made the rounds in the offseason giving contrite interviews and saying he understood the cost of his actions.

The Duke Blue Devils are in the middle of giving the business to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.

Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski announced Allen’s indefinite suspension on December 22 after reviewing video of the play. The school says Krzyzewski tried several treatment options during the past month before deciding on surgery.

Allen’s punishment came after a game against Elon when he got tangled up with Elon guard Steven Santa Ana on a play and extended his foot afterward to trip Santa Ana. Was the suspension strategically given so as to maximize the amount of time Allen was suspended while minimizing the amount of actual games he missed? Maybe one game was the right answer.

It would be hard to point to Allen as the critical factor – especially as he seemed hesitant to shoot at times – but his return coincided with an offensive explosion unprecedented for Duke this season.

The suspension cost the Blue Devils, who fell to Virginia Tech last Saturday without Allen. After that game, Krzyzewski revealed that he had stripped Allen of his team captaincy.

But on Wednesday night, Allen was in uniform and went through warmups with his teammates prior to tipoff. Starting alongside Allen is super freshman Harry Giles, who joins another talented freshman in Jayson Tatum (15.8 PPG) in the starting five. Allen was the first player shown.