Virginia had not beaten Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium since 1995, but it looked like Saturday could bring an end the streak.
The Cavaliers are ranked seventh in the nation and had won seven straight games entering Saturday, while the Blue Devils are unranked and had lost four times in the last month.
It didn’t matter.
Duke led for much of the second half on Saturday, but after the Blue Devils missed several free throws, Virginia’s Malcom Brogdon hit a tough lay-up to give the Cavaliers a 62-61 lead with under 10 seconds left.
Duke called timeout, which set up this:
https://twitter.com/TheCauldron/status/698651486985809920
https://twitter.com/TheDukeNation/status/698651425115500545
The officials went to the monitor to see if Allen got the shot off in time, but as you can see from this angle, he clearly beat the buzzer.
https://twitter.com/xOrtiz4x/status/698651645538914305
There’s some question of whether Allen’s right foot hit the ground before he released the ball, and while it’s hard to tell in real time, slow motion reveals that… yeah, Virginia got a raw deal.
Duke totally deserved to win that basketball game! https://t.co/p0GUAm3Lkk pic.twitter.com/E3NhodfYix
— SB Nation GIF (@SBNationGIF) February 14, 2016
As the token caucasian Duke guard, Allen is extremely polarizing (which is to say, everyone hates him), and this controversial buzzer beater will only fuel the fire. Unfortunately for the haters, Allen is super good. He’s averaging 20.2 points per game this season on 49.4-percent shooting plus 4.6 rebounds and 3.6 turnovers. Although he shot only 4-11 from the field on Saturday, he ended up with 15 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Duke, which placed just outside the Top 25 this week, should sneak back in after the win over Virginia.
As for the Cavaliers, they’ll win at Cameron some day… just not this time.
