Another year, another heartbreak for Jon Scheyer and his Duke Blue Devils.
Last season, Duke fell short of the NCAA Tournament title game after a monumental collapse in the closing moments against Houston. Scheyer must have been having flashbacks as he witnessed a similar unraveling happen Sunday against UConn.
The 1-seed Blue Devils committed a costly turnover in the final seconds that led to the 2-seed Huskies snatching victory via a 40-foot game-winner off the fingertips of freshman Braylon Mullins.
One CBS broadcast camera stayed on Scheyer throughout the torturous 10 seconds leading up to Mullins’ shot. The nerves on Scheyer’s face quickly turned to helplessness, then to pain and anguish.
Jon Scheyer and the Duke bench watching Braylon Mullins' last-second heroics pic.twitter.com/rePQvtTlIB
— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) March 30, 2026
Scheyer asserted that Duke’s loss wasn’t because of one bad play, but rather the complacency the team played with in the second half. The Blue Devils led by as many as 17 points after halftime, but slowly allowed the Huskies to creep back in.
“We just have to secure it, right?” Scheyer told reporters during Duke’s postgame press conference. “We’ve got it. They had to foul. I was ready for a timeout, and we’ve just got to hold on. It’s easy to look at that play, and I look at every play that happened, especially in that second half.
“This is not about one play. 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 can happen. Look, it’s going to be tough, but it’s not going to be on one play.”
Scheyer may not blame Cayden Boozer entirely, but the freshman guard could not help but feel the weight of his mistake once the team’s March Madness run was over. Boozer gave the most heartbreaking statement as he addressed reporters after the game.
