Duke's Grayson Allen commits cheap shot flagrant foul against UNC

March 10 (UPI) -- Duke senior Grayson Allen committed another cheap shot and was called for a flagrant foul.

The questionable infraction occurred Friday in North Carolina's 74-69 win against the Blue Devils in the ACC Tournament semifinals at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Duke trailed 30-27 with about a minute remaining in the first half when the Tar Heels took off in transition.

UNC guard Cameron Johnson dribbled toward Allen, before throwing a pass to guard Kenny Williams. Freshman forward Garrison Brooks trailed the play and was also running the court. Allen blindly stepped back and threw his backside into Brooks, who was knocked to the floor because of the unexpected hit.

Allen, 22, received a flagrant foul 1 for the hip check.

This is far from the first time Allen has been involved in tripping or questionable fouls during a game. He was suspended last season for his antics and earned a reputation for taking the cheap shots.

After Friday's game, Allen simply said that he "bumped" and "fouled" Brooks, while Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski defended his senior.

"Any foul in the game is not...you don't want any foul," Krzyzewski told reporters, according to ESPN. "So that was another foul in a game. Do you think that was the only time someone was hipped in the game? If you look in the low post, it's going on all the time. So it happened at half court. They got it. It's done. And that didn't win or lose the game."

Krzyzewski said he was "surprised" there was a stoppage of play for the foul.

Brooks was a little more skeptical of the play being a simple foul.

"He kind of stuck his leg out," Brooks told reporters. "That's what he does. It didn't surprise me."

Allen had 16 points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals in the loss. Gary Trent Jr. led all scorers with 20 points for the Blue Devils. Luke Maye had a team-high 17 points for the Tar Heels.

Tar Heels star Joel Berry said that he is good friends with Allen and he said he gave him advice during the game.

"Oh, yeah, I told them, they're always going to get on him about that," Berry told reporters.

"Any little trip he does, if he puts a finger on somebody, you know they're going to react. So it's always a joking thing with me and Grayson. I don't have any hatred towards him. We're good friends. We're both from Florida, and we played with each other. But I just told him that you've just got to watch yourself because anything you do like that you know they're going to get on you about. That's why we laughed it off."

North Carolina faces Virginia in the ACC Championship game at 8:30 p.m. Saturday at Barclays Center.