FSU assistant defends Duke’s Grayson Allen: ‘I know what a dirty play is and I was not the victim of one’
Duke guard Grayson Allen appeared to shove a Florida State assistant coach to the ground while falling out of bounds Tuesday night, but the Seminoles’ Dennis Gates took to Twitter the following morning to state he was not the victim of a “dirty play” by Allen.
“I misread Grayson Allen’s speed the same way you all are misreading the clip,” Gates wrote Wednesday morning. “It was our lower body that made the most contact. The results from that impact is what put me on my back not a shove. I did not in anyway feel attacked nor disrepected.”
He continued: “All I view it to be is, ‘A GREAT HUSTLE PLAY.’ Nothing more, nothing less. Watch the lower body collision, not upper. I know what a dirty play is and I was not the victim of one.”
Gates, a former player at California, told ESPN on Wednesday: “Out of reaction, he put his hands up to protect himself. He didn’t push me. He was just protecting himself.”
Of course, any such play involving Allen is going to be scrutinized after he was suspended indefinitely (it lasted one game) by Duke last month after being caught tripping an opponent for the third time in a calendar year.
On Saturday, Allen appeared to possibly attempt to trip Boston College forward Connar Tava. The ACC said in a statement after the game it could determine “nothing conclusive” about whether or not Allen intentionally made contact with his opponent.
“The kid has been through a lot,” Duke interim Coach Jeff Capel said of Allen on Tuesday night. “He brought a lot of it on himself, but some of the things that have happened are just crazy.”
Twitter: @chewkiii
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