Coach K’s grandson returns to team, makes 3 to push Blue Devils past 100-point mark
Michael Savarino is all the way back from the team discipline that resulted from his drunk-driving arrest last month.
The Duke basketball player, grandson of Blue Devils head coach Mike Krzyzewski, was not only in uniform for the first time since his Nov. 14 arrest but he played for just the second time this season in Duke’s 103-62 win over South Carolina State on Tuesday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
He entered the game with 4:38 remaining and the No. 2-ranked Blue Devils comfortably in front. His 3-pointer with 2:03 remaining put Duke over the 100-point mark.
“We’ve suspended him and punished him,” Krzyzewski said. “We didn’t put him out and flog him in front of everybody. He still has things to do legally but that’s all being done the right way.”
Last month, the 20-year-old Savarino was stopped by N.C. Highway Patrol at 1:10 a.m. Nov. 14 when he was observed rolling through a stop sign in rural Orange County, west of Hillsborough and south of Efland. He faces charges of driving while impaired, driving after consuming alcohol while under 21 and a stop sign violation.
According to the police incident report, he admitted he had been drinking and he performed poorly on a field sobriety test. A breathalyzer exam at 2:38 a.m. showed his blood alcohol content was 0.08.
Savarino was driving a car registered to teammate Paolo Banchero when he was stopped and arrested. Banchero was subsequently cited for aiding and abetting DWI. He has a court date scheduled in Orange County Court on Wednesday to face that charge.
Savarino had a court date last Wednesday in Orange County where his case was continued until Jan. 27.
“We don’t condone what happened,” Krzyzewski said. “But there are a lot of things that happen to kids on campus that we wouldn’t condone. But it happens. We don’t sell them down the river. The only way you get better is by acknowledging that you did something wrong, accepting the punishment and learning from it. To me, that’s what a university is supposed to be about. So we’ve done it with the university and handled it in that manner. He’s learned a good lesson and he’s going to pay a price for it. He already has paid a price for it. You do something, you’ve got to pay a price.”
A walk-on the previous two seasons who was put on scholarship last summer, Savarino had only played in one game previously this season. He was on the court for three minutes when Duke beat Army West Point, 82-56, on Nov. 12.
He was not with the team in the first three games after his arrest: home wins over Gardner-Webb on Nov. 16, Lafayette on Nov. 19 and The Citadel on Nov. 22.
He returned to the team, but was not in uniform, for Duke’s 84-81 win over Gonzaga on Nov. 26 in Las Vegas and the Blue Devils’ 71-66 loss at Ohio State on Nov. 30. Both times, Savarino sat on the bench in street clothes.
This story was originally published December 14, 2021 at 9:56 PM.