Written by Matt Norlander at CBSSports.com
With the comfort of a raucous arena losing its mind around him, Grayson Allen on Thursday night put up one of the strongest games of his career.
Maybe it winds up being the most important.
“Grayson had an amazing game,” Mike Krzyzewski said after Duke’s 86-78 win over North Carolina.
The word “amazing” is thrown around way too frequently in sports, but Allen’s showing in the biggest rivalry in college basketball qualifies. A national stage, a big moment for his team and the validity of its talent — and he came through. He was the most consistent player on the floor. Without him, Duke does not win against North Carolina. There’s no higher compliment for him right now than that.
In previous games, Allen’s been a bit player, inconsequential at times. He looks like he’s returning to star status, which will only make Duke more dangerous.
Perhaps now Allen will be able to get through the rest of the season without melodrama, the North Carolina test serving as a potential final barrier to clear. For the first time in a very long time, Allen’s performance and all of the talk afterward was only about what he did and what his team did — in victory. He put up a game-high 25 points on 9-of-15 shooting, sinking seven 3s in the process. After a couple of his 3-pointers, he looked left, to the Crazies, and very much seemed to feed off their energy. He looked like the player a lot of people predicted would be the national Player of the Year.
“It feels good to just be out the playing the game that I love — and loving it,” Allen said. “Really just having fun with it, whether my shot falls or not. That’s how I grew up playing the game. Just loving to compete. It feels good to do just that.”
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