Another Duke Season Ends With Blown Lead As Boozer Twins Experience Rare Loss

Duke guard Cayden Boozer sits in the locker room after their Elite Eight game of the NCAA college basketball tournament against UConn, Sunday, March 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough) Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

At 8:10 pm on Sunday, Duke guard Cayden Boozer sat on a chair at his locker stall, still in uniform and with tears in his eyes. Fellow freshmen Nikolas Khamenia and Dame Sarr stopped by to console Boozer, whose errant pass led to Duke’s season ending in stunning fashion. With Duke leading UConn by two points and about six seconds remaining, Boozer tried to get the ball to Isaiah Evans, the team’s best free throw shooter.

But UConn guard Silas Demary Jr. deflected the pass, and Braylon Mullins made a 40-footer with less than a second left to give the Huskies an improbable 73-72 victory in the NCAA tournament East Region final at Capital One Arena in Washington, D. C.

Duke had been up by 19 points in the first half and 15 at halftime and hadn’t trailed since they were down 2-0. But the Blue Devils somehow lost, the second consecutive season they were a No. 1 seed, had the consensus national player of the year and blew a double-digit lead in the NCAA tournament.