Rematch With State a Flop for Wisconsin's Davison
They were waiting for Brad Davison the moment he made his first apperaance on the PNC Arena court about an hour before gametime Wednesday.
Stationed in the courtside seats adjacent to where Wisconsin was warming up, the group of NC State students began heckling the polarizing Badgers guard about everything from his flat-top hair style to his jump shot to a performance in which he drew five charges in a win against the Wolfpack last year.
And things only got worse for him once the game began.
College basketball's most notorious flopper was booed loudly by the 16,035 in attendance everytime he touched the ball from the opening tipoff to the time he went to the bench for the final time with just under a minute remaining.
Whether it was the crowd getting into his head or simply the extension of a recent shooting slump, Davison had a night he'd just as soon forget. He was 1 of 5 from the floor (1 of 4 from 3-point range) while scoring only three points in State's 69-54 ACC/Big Ten Challenge victory.
"You know, our fans don’t forget anything," Wolfpack center D.J. Funderburk said. "They booed every single time. That really didn't matter. We just tried to focus on the team in general, lock down everybody we needed to, tried to get into their bench and win the game.”
Davison, a 6-foot-4 junior who averages 12 points per game, has a well-deserved reputation for flopping.
Not only did he draw those five charges against State a year ago -- including one on an egregious flop against Markell Johnson that deprived the State an opportunity to tie the game with 17 seconds remaining -- he has already been warned twice this season under a new rule designed to stop players from trying to deceive officials into calling their opponents for offensive fouls.
Davison was on his best behavior Wednesday. Other than embellishing contact on a foul by Johnson less than two minutes into the game, Davison managed to stay upright and off the floor for the majority of the game.
Asked about Davison after the game, State coach Kevin Keatts credited the crowd -- with an assist from the local media -- for helping to get into the Wisconsin star's head.
"They were great, man," Keatts said of the PNC Arena crowd. "They yelled. You guys (in the media) have done a tremendous job of making sure that our fan base knew that this is the dude that took five flops.
"I can say flops now. Everybody knows that. I give (the media) a lot of credit, because I've tried to downplay it for a couple of days. I didn't want my players to get into it. You know what? I don't even think he took a charge tonight and I'm sure the fans had something to do with it."
