A simple rule of thumb is if you are going to flip the double bird to an opposing team’s crowd, you better make sure that you win the game. St. Joe’s forward Halil Kanacevic unfortunately didn’t follow this rule and his double bird actually was the catalyst in a 65-61 loss to Villanova. Kanacevic was having a rough night from the field, but managed to make a big three pointer to put St. Joe up 50-47. As he headed into a timeout Kanacevic flipped the double bird to the Villanova crowd and from there it was all downhill. The middle fingers got the crowd rowdy and their energy found its way to the team as well sparking an immediate 6-0 run.
Somehow the refs missed the obscene gesture, so there was no technical called when it actually happened. Phil Martelli, coach of the Hawks, said following the game regarding the incident:
“One of the things that we will mention to them is that on the road you play to silence. That’s all you want. It certainly wasn’t a raucous atmosphere up until that point, but I’ll look at it and see. I don’t think it made us play faster or out of character. We just made some out-of-character plays and plays that were home runs instead of singles.”
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