Duke's Last-Second Loss to UConn Made Jayson Tatum Physically Ill

If your stomach hurt watching the UConn Huskies eliminate the Duke Blue Devils in the men's Elite Eight on Sunday, you weren't the only one.

“I was sick,” Duke alum and Celtics star Jayson Tatum recently told the Boston Globe's Adam Himmelsbach, describing his reaction to the thrilling and shocking lead change at the buzzer. "I was sick."

It was one of those moments that the tournament was made for. With the Huskies down by two in the waning seconds of their regional final vs. Duke, senior Alex Karaban passed freshman Braylon Mullins the ball to try and make something happen. (And Mullins, mind you, hadn't hit a three-pointer all night.)

“I just had the gut instinct to pass it to him,” Karaban said after the game. “I think I looked at the rim and I saw we had five seconds left, so I was like, ‘Maybe something better could develop.’ Because I think I had [Duke’s] Cameron Boozer in front of me, so [it would have been] a harder, more difficult shot."

So Karaban got rid of the ball. And Mullins, standing well behind the arc, made magic happen. His three was good, which miraculously put the Huskies ahead by one with 0.4 seconds left on the clock. The game was as good as done.

OH MY GOODNESS 😱

UCONN LEADSSSS UNBELIEVABLE #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/IPX2JWiw0b
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 29, 2026

For the Blue Devils, however, the moment was hardly as sweet. The team had earned itself a No. 1 overall seed after a 29–2 regular season and was well poised to make a deep run in this year's Dance. Yet again, however, the tournament ended in heartbreak; one year after their 70–67 collapse in the 2025 Final Four, Duke was sent home early once more.

Even so, he told Himmelsbach, Tatum is incredibly happy with the product the 2025-26 team put on the floor.

"I couldn’t be more proud of those guys," he continued. "It was an unbelievable season. Scheyer and his staff, obviously I have a great relationship with them. Hate to see us go out like that, but it was still an unbelievable year. We had the toughest schedule, No. 1 overall seed. … So I just kind of felt for all those guys in the locker room. That is an incredible way to lose, so I felt for all those guys.”

Tatum, who declared for the NBA draft after one season at Duke, was named the team's chief basketball officer—an advisory role—back in October.

“Just tried to be a voice and resource,” he said of the gig. "Talking to the staff, I talked to Jon every other day. Players on the team would reach out. Just being an extended resource to the team and the guys that had any questions. I watched as many games as I could.”

Surely, with the season now done, the team can instead lean on Tatum for advice on handling unexpected losses. Although he has since returned to play (and remarkably fast, at that), the Celtics forward missed the majority of the 2025-26 season while recovering from a torn Achilles tendon. At the time, he said the devastation of the injury had him contemplating his future in basketball.

So if anyone knows how to bounce back from a tragic turn of events, it's Tatum. And surely, he's the perfect guy to help these Duke players prepare for their next act—whether that's in the NCAA or the pros—as best he can.

More March Madness from Sports Illustrated