Duke guard Matt Jones has an abrasion on his left hand that he said happened in the final seconds of the team’s 64-62 loss to Syracuse on Monday. And he claims the abrasion is a bite mark.
Matt Jones’s hand. Said it happened on last play of the game (bite mark?) showed ref to no avail pic.twitter.com/j4DfB5NmJZ
— Laura Keeley (@laurakeeley) January 19, 2016
The Sporting News‘ Ron Clements explains more:
The alleged bite took place on one of two plays, although it’s difficult to see anything other than incidental contact. The first was a scrum for a loose ball following a Grayson Allen miss with seven seconds remaining and the Orange holding a 63-62 lead. Jones collided with Syracuse guard Malachi Richardson as they arrived at the ball.
Video of Jones’ collision with Syracuse’s Malachi Richardson (Jones is No. 13):
And the other play it could’ve been, where Jones attempts a half-court shot at the buzzer:
Matt Jones got fouled on that last shot… pic.twitter.com/Cs01tiQ0fT — derick (@DerickSmith_) January 19, 2016
There isn’t any clear “biting” in those videos, but it’s always possible Jones ran into some teeth in the collisions. Either way, this doesn’t look like a Mike Tyson-Evander Holyfield situation and any biting was likely accidental (if it took place on one of these two plays, of course).
One thing that is evident in the videos of the final play was the contact Jones drew, and there was no foul called. Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski was angry about that no-call:
Rather than directly criticize the officiating, he kept referring to the “amazing” play during his postgame press conference: “The last play is amazing. Have you seen it? Go see it, it is literally amazing.” Asked about the Blue Devils inability to close out the last few games he said: “We put ourselves in a position to win. Matt Jones made a great play and he was not rewarded. He made a great play. It’s amazing. It’s literally amazing. God bless America.”
Coach K also threw some shade at a few Syracuse players in the postgame handshake line:
It will be interesting to see if any additional information comes forward about this “bite mark”, and unfortunately with all of this good old fashioned drama, Duke and Syracuse aren’t scheduled to meet again this season. Damn. Let’s hope for a rematch in the ACC Tournament.
