Did Grayson Allen deliberately shove a Florida State assistant? (video)

Grayson Allen has eliminated any benefit of the doubt, but did he deliberately shove a Florida State assistant coach on Tuesday night?

Duke shooting guard Grayson Allen is clearly a talented player, averaging 15.2 points per game so far this season. But that talent is being overshadowed by multiple on-court tripping incidents in the last calendar year, and an incident earlier this season brought an indefinite suspension that lasted one game.

After a questionable kicking motion as he fought through a screen against Boston College last Saturday, Allen invited scrutiny again on Tuesday night.

Late in the second half of the Blue Devils’ 88-72 loss to Florida State, Allen chased after a loose ball and went into the Seminoles’ bench. He made substantial contact with an assistant coach, and appeared to add in a shove as he landed.

Did Allen do anything wrong? Was it purely incidental arm movement? Judge for yourself.

The intelligence of chasing a loose ball with reckless abandon like that can be questioned, especially so late in a fairly one-sided game, but Allen’s hustle can and should be commended overall. The slow-motion in the video also invites easy criticism of Allen, even if his arm motion looks fairly incidental.

For what it’s worth, the offended Seminoles’ assistant coach, Dennis Gates, has taken some share of the blame for the collision with Allen.

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Even an opposing coach can be expected to give Allen some benefit of the doubt, and perhaps Gates could have done a far better job removing himself from possible harm as a player dives into the bench. But Allen has no built-in equity otherwise, and the Duke haters will surely be coming out again calling for some discipline from the ACC.