Duke announced on Thursday that star junior Grayson Allen has been suspended indefinitely in the wake of his latest tripping incident.
Coach Mike Krzyzewski said in a statement that it was “unacceptable and inexcusable” for Allen to intentionally trip an Elon player during Wednesday night’s win.
“We have had the opportunity to thoroughly review the incident involving Grayson Allen from last night’s game against Elon,” Coach K said, via ESPN.com. “As I stated last night, the incident was unacceptable and inexcusable. He took an important step last night by apologizing in person to Steven Santa Ana and Coach Matt Matheny.
“As a program, we needed to take further steps regarding his actions that do not meet the standards of Duke Basketball. To that end, we have determined that Grayson will be suspended from competition for an indefinite amount of time.”
ESPN’s Andy Katz reports that the ACC, which has the authority to penalize Allen further, agrees with Duke’s decision. Coach K hinted on Wednesday that he was not going to cave to the pressure of those calling for Allen to be suspended, but it appears he did just that.
Allen, who was seen weeping in the locker room with his head down, apologized after the game.
“I made a really bad play. I’m sorry to him, Santa Ana,” he told reporters. “I’m sorry to the officials who had to call that. I’m sorry to my team. It was selfish and taking away from them. I’m not proud of that at all.”
You can see a video of the play here.
Allen tripping opponents has become a disturbing trend. He committed dirty trips against Florida State and Louisville last year, as well as against NC State. Anything less than a suspension would have made it seem like Coach K is giving preferential treatment to a star player.
