The eyes of the college basketball world were on Cameron Indoor Stadium on Saturday evening. The Duke Blue Devils played host to the North Carolina Tar Heels in the latest matchup between college basketball’s most bitter rivals, and this time around, the game came with an emotional twist: Legendary Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski coached his final game in front of the Cameron Crazies.
It looked like Duke was going to send him off with a win, as the No. 4 team in America took a 41-39 lead into the locker room at halftime, but the Tar Heel offense could not be stopped in the second half. By the time the game came to an end, North Carolina picked up a 94-81 win.
The win was legitimately gigantic for UNC, which was flirting with the NCAA Tournament bubble but should be safe now. But for Duke, sending Coach K out like this did not go over well at all, especially considering the fact that the university put on a ceremony once the game ended. Before it could begin, though, a visibly annoyed Krzyzewski stepped up to the mic and addressed the crowd.
Mike Krzyzewski takes a moment out of his ceremony to apologize for the game and tell the fans it was unacceptable pic.twitter.com/Qkkra3hzoV
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) March 6, 2022
“This isn’t part of the program, this is impromptu by me: I’m sorry about this afternoon,” Krzyzewski said.
As Duke fans began to make clear that they found this unnecessary, he told the crowd to quiet down before saying it was “unacceptable.”
“But the season,” he continued, “has been very acceptable. And I’ll tell you, the season isn’t over, alright?”
Krzyzewski then made his way to his seat, at which point a ceremony began celebrating his career at Duke.
