Mike Krzyzewski defends Cayden Boozer after Duke's Elite Eight loss to UConn

Cayden Boozer‘s name was everywhere Sunday for all the wrong reasons. With 10 seconds remaining in Duke‘s Elite Eight showdown against UConn, the Blue Devils had the ball and led by two points.

They inbounded the ball and swung it around the backcourt before it ultimately landed in Boozer’s hands. As his head coach Jon Scheyer motioned for him to do so, Boozer attempted to toss the ball over the Huskies’ defense into the front court to ice the game.

Instead, the ball got tipped and, thanks to a selfless pass from Alex Karaban, UConn’s Braylon Mullins hit a 35-foot 3-pointer to win the game. Boozer was understandably emotional following the loss. During an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show on Monday, former Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski sympathized with Boozer.

“Jon [Scheyer]’s primary concern—and he does a great job of this—he and his staff, making sure you take care of those young men,” Krzyzewski said. “They had a magnificent season, one of the best ever. And, you lose. It’s brutal. It’s so abrupt. From the joy to the agony, and to especially make sure that you embrace collective responsibility; that you win and you lose together, so that no one individual player bears the burden of that alone.

“I felt so bad for Cayden Boozer because I felt that the interviews afterwards—one, he was man enough to do the interviews, and he took individual responsibility for it. Hopefully, I’m sure his teammates and his coaches hugged him afterwards, said, ‘Listen, man, we were there. Hey, you’re 15 points in the first half were the reason that we’re up by 15 points at halftime.’ He played an outstanding game, and it’s that one turnover.”

Boozer scored 13 of his 15 points in the first half against UConn. He shot 4-4 from the field in the half. Moreover, Boozer recorded three rebounds and two assists without committing a turnover. He had three turnovers in the second half.

As Coach K mentioned, Cayden Boozer fielded questions in Duke’s locker room after the game. With pink rims around his eyes, Boozer had obviously been crying. Nonetheless, he fielded reporters’ difficult questions with grace.

“I turned the ball over. I should’ve been stronger with the ball,” Boozer said. “I cost our team our season.

“… I saw Dame (Sarr) get trapped, I went to the outlet, obviously I saw two people down there, Isaiah (Evans) and Pat (Ngongba), just tried to get them the ball since Isaiah’s our best free-throw shooter. … I could’ve been stronger with the ball, and I let our team down.”

Krzyzewski isn’t the only one who’s defended Boozer. Following the loss, Jon Scheyer emphasized the loss fell on him and the coaching staff, not the players.