Miami handed Duke one of its worst losses in the last 30 years, taunted them in the process, and now the Blue Devils say they feel disrespected.
While up 72-44 in the second half of last week’s 90-63 win over the No. 1-ranked Blue Devils, several Hurricanes players slapped the floor at the same time. The gesture was Miami’s way of mocking Duke, which has been doing the floor slap on defense for years.
You can see video of the floor slap below:
Days after the embarrassing loss, the Blue Devils were still upset over the gesture.
“That was just a slap in the face to the program,” Quinn Cook said after the Maryland win Saturday, per The News & Observer. “All the tradition that coach has built here, just for them to mock that, it was definitely disrespectful. We definitely took that to heart.
“They beat the crap out of us,” Cook added. “We will definitely keep that in mind.”
Seth Curry acknowledged that Miami had embarrassed them on the court before the mocking gesture, so they really couldn’t do much about it.
The loss was the third-worst for a team ranked No. 1 in college hoops, and it was the largest margin of defeat for a Duke team in a regular-season game since 1984.
The teams will rematch at Cameron Indoor Stadium March 2. Based on what the Duke players are saying, we know whom we’ll be picking to win that contest.
Also, this story cannot be completely told without sharing that Warren Sapp told the Miami players to do the slap. Shocker, right?
