Duke Basketball: Grayson Allen in middle of more controversy (Video)

Duke basketball’s Grayson Allen earned a dead-ball technical foul after a controversial play late in the first half versus North Carolina.

Round two of Duke versus North Carolina lived up to the hype in the opening half (17 lead changes!) but it wasn’t without any Grayson Allen controversy.

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Allen, who was suspended for one game earlier this season for tripping Elon’s Steven Santa Ana, was given a dead-ball technical foul after elbowing North Carolina freshman Brandon Robinson in the head.

Obviously, by just watching the video, it’s impossible to judge intent. However, Allen’s past transgressions (he’s tripped three separate players) certainly won’t give him the benefit of the doubt.

If this happened to any other player across college basketball, this would be a non-story (Dillon Brooks kicked an opponent!). But because Allen has put this on himself by consistency making questionable decisions and dirty plays, everything he does will be overanalyzed for the rest of his basketball career.

It comes with the territory of being a “hated” Duke player.

Even though Allen has seemed to improve his composure since his suspension earlier this season, opponents are going to try to continue to bait the Preseason National Player of the Year into these types of plays. That not only puts them in a better position to be successful but it could fluster Allen and in turn create easy points via technical fouls.

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It doesn’t seem like the stories regarding Allen will go away anytime soon. Expect this to continue throughout the rest of March.