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Coach K, Brooks offer conflicting accounts of postgame confrontation

Harry How / Getty Images Sport / Getty

Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski didn't appear to appreciate Oregon guard Dillon Brooks hoisting a three with the clock winding down in a 82-68 blowout, and he let the Ducks sophomore know.

Brooks said Coach K confronted him in the handshake line, telling him he's "too good of a player to be showing off at the end."

"He's right," Brooks said, of the late shot with the shot clock winding down. "I have to respect Duke and got to respect them. I have to learn from those things."

For his part, Krzyzewski had a different view of what was said in the postgame interaction. When asked about the comments from Brooks during his postgame press conference, Krzyzewski replied, "I didn't say that."

"You can say whatever you want," he added. "Dillon Brooks is a hell of a player. I said, 'You're a terrific player.' And you can take whatever he said and then go with it, all right?"

The issue stemmed from the end of the game, with the belief that Brooks should have simply turned the ball over instead of shooting in the final seconds of a game that was essentially done. But Brooks doesn't completely agree with that assessment of the shot.

"At the same time, that's my fire, that's my passion," Brooks said. "I'm going to take in what he said and keep doing me."

Even though Duke guard Grayson Allen appeared to slough off a hug from Brooks at the buzzer, he said he had no problem with it.

"When you're winning, you can do stuff like that," Allen said.

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