UNC Basketball: Coach K throws Mark Williams under the bus after loss

Following a loss to the UNC basketball program in the Final Four, Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski threw ACC Defensive Player of the Year Mark Williams under the bus.

The North Carolina Tar Heels outlasted the Duke Blue Devils in Saturday night’s Final Four showdown, sending head coach Mike Krzyzewski into retirement a little earlier than he’d have liked.

The game was officiated pretty evenly. Both teams had players in foul trouble. North Carolina’s Armando Bacot fouled out in the waning moments of the second half. Duke’s Mark Williams and Theo John finished the game with four fouls apiece. So, neither coach has much to complain about in that regard.

The Tar Heels simply made more big plays at the end of a tight game than the Blue Devils did. It’s really that simple. Caleb Love had a phenomenal second half that he capped off with a clutch three-pointer and 3-of-4 free throws down the stretch. R.J. Davis made both of his second-half free throw attempts and reserve wing Puff Johnson did the same.

The player that did not hit his free throws when it mattered most? That was Duke’s Mark Williams, who missed both of his attempts at the foul line with 47 seconds left in the game and the Blue Devils trailing by one. It was Love’s three-point dagger from the top of the key just 19 seconds later that essentially sealed the game for North Carolina. That shot was over the outstretched arms of one Mark Williams.

That series of events was apparently weighing heavily on Krzyzewski’s mind following his team’s loss because his postgame interview with Tracy Wolfson didn’t paint a flattering picture of Williams. The picture it painted of Krzyzewski, though, was far worse.

“. . .We’d like to hit our free throws,” Coach K said before directly calling out Williams, the ACC’s Defensive Player of the Year. “Mark, not being able… he was never in the game…”

Immediately after the interview aired, spectators took to Twitter to discuss the interview and, in particular, the way that Krzyzewski threw one of his players under the bus one final time before riding off into the sunset.

The ironic thing is that Krzyzewski said later in the interview that a missed free throw or a single play doesn’t win or lose the game; that after he seemingly pointed directly at Williams’ foul trouble and missed free throws when asked what the game came down to.

Of course, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen this from Coach K, but it will be the last.

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