It’s not often that basketball players get kicked in the face. Then again, it’s not often a player throws down such a thunderous dunk that they’re afforded a brief moment to hang from the rim.
That was the unfortunate series of events in Monday’s Creighton-Ohio game, in which the Bluejays’ Christian Bishop was the recipient of an alley-oop pass, hung onto the rim for a moment too long and accidentally kicked Ohio’s Ben Vander Plas in the face. Bishop scored the goal — which made the score 60-43 Creighton — after Ohio’s Jason Preston turned the ball over, leading to a fast-break opportunity.
Bishop was not penalized for hanging onto the rim. Here are two angles of the play:
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That wasn’t Bishop’s only alley-oop dunk of the day; he also had one in the first half to make the score 23-20 Creighton with roughly six minutes left before halftime:
Bishop ended with 12 points, 15 rebounds and a steal in the Bleujays’ 72-58 win. Every Creighton starter produced double-digit points, with only four points coming from the bench.