YouTube Gold: That Block

There are some Duke plays that simply stand alone. Obviously there are the game winners but then there are a handful of in-game plays that people talk about for years. Think Gene Banks and his massive windmill dunk against 7-4 Ralph Sampson. Maybe you’re partial to the Phil Henderson dunk against Alonzo Mourning. Or maybe the - well, Zion Williamson has a whole raft of his own memorable plays. That’s kind of separate category.

The block that Mark Williams pulled off Saturday at Louisville will go down in that category somewhere.

We’re referring of course to his massive takedown of Sydney Curry at the rim as the 6-8, 260 lb. Curry - who we might add plays with a bit of an edge - tried to throw down a massive dunk.

The play starts with 7:03 left in the second half. Curry sets a pick for Wendell Moore that frees Mason Faulkner, who sees Williams. Curry turns and heads towards the basket. Williams starts left to contest Faulkner then turns right and goes up for the block.

Keep in mind that Curry is a really powerful guy and, as we saw in this game, he’s a bit short tempered.

Last year, Williams might have hesitated. This year?

He decapitated the shot. It was a powerful dunk even more powerfully denied.

Curry fell to the floor, apparently in pain but jumped up in a minute or two and with a defiant energy. He knew what happened but wasn’t going to accept it.

The overall link is for the general highlights. You can fast forward to about 7:04 in the second half. The embed, for those who can see it, goes directly to that point.