Duke basketball hated rival defends Blue Devils against referees

One of the most hated Duke basketball rivals has come to the defense of the program. 

Saturday’s officiating blunder was so bad that former North Carolina superstar Tyler Hansbrough came to the defense of the Duke basketball program.

The Blue Devils were robbed of a chance at victory against No. 8 Virginia after the officiating crew of Lee Cassell, Jeffery Anderson, and Tim Clougherty overturned a foul which would have resulted in two free throws for Kyle Filipowski with the score tied 58-58.

Replay showed 0.2 seconds remaining on the clock at the time of the foul but the referees inexplicably sent the game to overtime without the Duke freshman going to the free throw line.

“I hate to say it, but, yeah, [Duke] got robbed,” Hansbrough said on Saturday night on The Field of 68 Podcast.

College basketball insider Jeff Goodman proposed the question to the former Tar Heel by saying, “No one hates Duke more than you, but did Duke get hosed?”

The ACC published a press release late Saturday night stating that the officials made the wrong call after the review and Duke should have been award two free throws at the end of regulation.

“The refs missed it. They blew the call,” Hansbrough continued.

“The concerning part to me was that they went back and looked at it on replay and still didn’t give them the foul.”

Virginia would outscore Duke 11-4 in overtime to win, 69-62.

Duke basketball head coach has to be more assertive

Tyler Hansbrough brought up the fact that if Mike Krzyzewski were on the sidelines instead of Jon Scheyer that it would have been more likely that the foul would have been called and Duke would have had the opportunity to win the game.

“Does Scheyer not have as much pull as K?” Hansbrough asked.

ALSO READ: Duke chance at victory taken away against Virginia

Many other people on social media have also documented Scheyer’s calm demeanor on the bench when a controversial call is made as opposed to Krzyzewski berating the officials to try and sway their decisions on the court.

“You know that [Coach] K would have been on the sidelines working the refs, like classic K. I don’t know if he’s still coaching that [Duke] is not shooting free throws [Saturday night].

Duke (17-8, 8-6 ACC) will have to respond on Tuesday night (7:00p.m. ET, ESPN) at home against Notre Dame (10-15, 2-12 ACC).