Re-live the Red-Blue dunk contest, which had a surprise winner

Photo by Simon Asher

Devonaire Doutrive may have been the leading scorer in Arizona basketball’s 2019-2020 Red-Blue game, but the Wildcats’ sophomore guard had another reason to smile after the program’s annual intrasquad scrimmage.

Competing against Josh Green, Ira Lee, Christian Koloko, and Zeke Nnaji, Doutrive won the dunk contest that now proceeds Red-Blue every year.

He defeated Lee and Green in the championship round after Koloko and Nnaji were eliminated initially.

For his first dunk, Doutrive threw down a windmill over the 7-foot Koloko that earned a 50 out of 50 from the judges, while his second was a one-handed stuff that came from a pass off the side of the backboard from Nico Mannion.

The first dunk was ultimately the difference, as the winner was decided by the combined score of the two rounds.

Devonaire Doutrive’s first round dunk:

Over the 7 footer pic.twitter.com/Xbhj0gKsOM

— Christian Mortensen (@MortensenAZDS) September 28, 2019

Devonaire Doutrive’s championship round dunk:

Winner pic.twitter.com/t7Hlhl0SoU

— Christian Mortensen (@MortensenAZDS) September 28, 2019

Lee jumped over three teammates for his first dunk and threw down an emphatic two-handed slam off the bounce in the second, while the freshman Green did a reverse off the glass in the first round and jumped over two teammates and flushed it down in the championship.

The Australian almost put down the dunk of the night in the first round, before giving up after two failed attempts and letting his old AAU running mate Mannion throw it to him off the glass.

Doutrive’s win was not only a surprise considering he was the smallest guy in the field, but also because the sophomore guard didn’t even know he was going to compete.

“I wasn’t even supposed to do it,” he said of the contest, “I was going to let the freshman do it, but then I was like, I have to because last year I was in it and I didn’t really do anything.”

The Dallas native went on to add that while he knew what he was going to do in the first round, the second was mostly improvisation.

“The second one I just said to Nico (Mannion), ‘just throw it off the side,” the first one I’ve been doing a long time,” he said.

Doutrive, who will be happy he stuck around after almost transferring this offseason, takes the crown from departed Brandon Randolph who had won the contest the last two seasons.

Here are the other best dunks from a fun night in McKale:

Christian Koloko’s first round dunk: pic.twitter.com/xRK4BxvbFa

— Christian Mortensen (@MortensenAZDS) September 28, 2019

Josh Green’s first round dunk:

With a little help from his buddy Nico pic.twitter.com/Xu1uMtgFB9

— Christian Mortensen (@MortensenAZDS) September 28, 2019

Josh Green’s championship round dunk:

Thought he deserved more but I think he got docked for the push-off. pic.twitter.com/w7RuGl0x63

— Christian Mortensen (@MortensenAZDS) September 28, 2019

I don’t know what would have happened if @joshgreen_6 put this dunk down pic.twitter.com/46uiYhhFii

— Christian Mortensen (@MortensenAZDS) September 28, 2019

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