Jay Bilas points to freshman inexperience in Duke’s collapse vs. UConn

Cayden Boozer fought back tears as he was surrounded by reporters in the locker room after Duke’s one-point loss to Connecticut in the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday.

The 18-year-old freshman was an image of vulnerability. He said he let his teammates down. His errant pass in the dying seconds led to the Huskies stealing the ball and Braylon Mullins hitting the game-winning three-pointer.

While it was Boozer who made a crucial error, the Blue Devils blew a 19-point lead in a monumental collapse.

On “The Rich Eisen Show,” former Duke star Jay Bilas stressed that inexperience hurt the top-seeded Blue Devils.

“UConn’s players, like (Alex) Karaban and all that, those guys have a memory bank of situations they’ve had over the course of their college careers. The Duke players who play the most minutes are freshmen. So, they don’t have that memory bank,” explained Bilas.

“They had three freshmen on the floor in that last play, and then Isaiah Evans and Patrick Ngongba were the only ones with experience in those situations. That’s the hard part.”

The three freshmen Bilas was referring to were Boozer, his twin brother, Cameron Boozer, and Dame Sarr.

For the second straight year, Duke wasted a big lead and suffered a painful exit in March Madness.

Cayden could have just held the ball and waited for UConn to foul him. But as Bilas, who works as an analyst for ESPN, pointed out, the inexperience might have caused the young forward to panic.

Bilas played for the Blue Devils from 1982 to 1986, helping them reach the national title game in his senior year.

Many castigated Duke coach Jon Scheyer for his questionable decisions in their shocking loss to the Huskies, but St. John’s coach Rick Pitino came to his defense.

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