When Miami upset then-No. 1 Duke 90-63 in Coral Gables, Fla., the Hurricanes mocked the Blue Devils by slapping the floor—a Duke tradition, perhaps made most popular by current assistant coach and former player Steve Wojciechowski.
Ryan Kelly's 36-point performance may be the big story in Duke's 79-76 win against Miami Saturday, but Quinn Cook was the one with the last slap.
After Cook nailed a 3-pointer with 1:56 left to give Duke a 10-point lead, he slapped the floor and began jawing at Miami point guard Shane Larkin. The Cameron Crazies went wild.
"I just looked at Wojo and that was Wojo's signature thing," Cook said. "It's just something that slapped in my head."
And this wasn't Cook's first floor slap.
The sophomore guard also slapped the floor last season against Presbyterian, and he said the coaches encouraged that type of enthusiasm.
"The fans love it, my Twitter followers love it. They always want me to bring it back," Cook said. "When I did it against Presbyterian my freshman year, they was just saying they wanted to see it every game.”
Cook, though, said he wasn't that upset when Miami did it in the first meeting.
"They deserved to do it. They were up 30," Cook said. "We've been getting reminded of that game on Twitter and in public—everybody telling us to slap the floor against them. But we weren't going into it looking for revenge. We just wanted to come in and get a win, and I coincidentally did that."
Cook is regularly the first Blue Devil to motion to the Cameron Crazies, asking them to get loud. They went berserk after Quinn's floor slapping.
"They were phenomenal—probably better than the North Carolina game, just because the intensity they [had for] 40 minutes," Cook said. "That's why they're the best fans in America."
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