Is there anything quite as disrespectful in college basketball than slapping the floor on defense? It’s meant to tell the offense to come at you because anything they do won’t matter. They’re gonna stop you anyways. Some teams do it to show off. Others do it out of frustration, or to send a signal to the rest of the team that they’re going to get a stop.
When Seton Hall was up against Georgetown on Saturday, Quincy McKnight decided to slap the floor up four late in the second half, and the message was quite clear: he was going to stop the offense on this possession. Well, Georgetown took that floor slap personally and decided to send a message of their own. Slap as much as you want, because your defense isn’t going to get a stop on this possession.
Freshman James Akinjo, who was handing the ball when the slap came, took McKnight to school, driving to the basket for the foul and then getting right in McKnight’s face afterward.
https://twitter.com/natemar3i0n/status/1102015515185299456?s=19
The sheer amount of disrespect in this clip from both sides is honestly impressive. The initial floor slap alone could have been ignored, but the ball handler made sure to get his man dancing and then went straight at him. After he scored in his face he made sure to tell him why his defense is terrible, why he should never slap the floor ever again, and probably why he should just quit playing basketball. Did all that actually happen? Besides getting in his face, no, but it’s way more fun to imagine what he was saying then try to actually listen in.
Then for good measure, he started to play press defense and slapped the floor right in front of him. This is proof that if you’re going to take part in college basketball’s most disrespectful tradition then you better bring your best game. Otherwise, you’re going to end up being embarrassed. And it got worse for Seton Hall, as the Hoyas came back to win on home court, 77-71.
