Duke basketball radio call of UConn’s game-winning play will have haters grinning ear-to-ear

It appeared as if it would be, but Sunday was, in fact, not Duke basketball’s night.

For a second consecutive year, the Blue Devils suffered a stunningly heartbreaking defeat to finish their once-promising season. On Sunday, UConn’s Braylon Mullins was the one to plunge the proverbial dagger in Duke’s heart when he nailed a 35-foot shot to give the Huskies a one-point lead with 0.3 seconds to go.

The shot, as expected, caused pandemonium, with UConn players and coaches exploding off the bench. And Duke radio announcer David Shumate was quick to try to literally call foul on the celebration.

“Two seconds, it’s Mullins up top for the win… Oh, he hit it. With three-tenths of a second to go — Malachi Smith ran off the bench! That should be a technical, but with three-tenths of a second to go, Connecticut has the lead 73 to 72,” Shumate said [h/t Sickos Committee].

The Duke radio call of the UConn winner. pic.twitter.com/WBPsqVbcJk

— Sickos Committee (@SickosCommittee) March 29, 2026

Unfortunately for Shumate and the Duke faithful, no technical foul was given. Why? Because Smith did not actually run off the bench. Smith was one of the five UConn players on the floor at the time of Mullins’ 3-pointer. But it is understandable why Shumate, likely hoping that a technical foul could help save Duke from another March collapse, would think Smith did deserve a tech.

Smith was standing on the other side of the court, in front of the Huskies’ bench, and was only a few feet ahead of multiple UConn players and coaches who momentarily stepped onto the court before realizing time was left on the clock, potentially making it appear that Smith ran off the sideline and onto the court.

Nonetheless, the referees immediately whistled to stop play and review the time left in the game, making the whole technical foul discussion moot.

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