Duke’s Grayson Allen Caught Tripping Xavier Rathan-Mayes

Towards the end of #15 Duke’s 80-65 victory over Florida State, guard Grayson Allen appeared to intentionally trip Seminoles’ guard Xavier Rathan-Mayes at mid court.  This is the second time this month Allen looked to trip an opposing player, after he missed a layup in the Blue Devils’ win against Louisville on Feb. 8, he appears to stick his leg out and trip Cardinals’ forward Raymond Spalding, for which Allen was given a flagrant 1 foul.

“He wanted to keep playing physical,” Allen said, according to the Fayetteville Observer. “So I tried to walk away from it as he was grabbing me. We ended up tangling up and falling.”

Duke won Thursday night’s contest relatively easily, Florida State never got closer than 11 points in the second half.  Allen, who averages 20.9 points per game, played all 40 minutes and finished the game with 18 points and 5 assists. Freshman forward Brandon Ingram also played the entire game for the Blue Devils and finished with 16 points.  Duke also got nice contributions from Marshall Plumlee, who finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds, Matt Jones, who finished with 11 points, and Luke Kennard who came off the bench to score 12.  Duke only used a seven man rotation and has been having issues with their depth due to injuries.

The Seminoles lost their fifth straight game but got a few good individual performances, freshman guard Dwayne Bacon had a double double with 12 points and 10 rebounds and Rathan-Mayes finished with 13 points.  As a team, Florida State only managed 8 assists.

Duke (21-7, 10-5 ACC) has two games, at Pittsburgh (19-8, 8-7) and home vs Wake Forest (11-17, 2-14) before their season finale at home vs arch rival North Carolina (23-5, 12-3).  Florida State (16-12, 6-10) will look to get back on the right track in their final two games, home vs #23 Notre Dame (19-8, 10-5) and Syracuse (18-10, 8-7), if they want to keep their faint NCAA Tournament hopes alive.