Jacob Toppin wins Big Blue Madness Dunk Contest

Jacob Toppin didn’t have the highest score in tonight’s Big Blue Madness Dunk Contest. He wasn’t even an official participant.

Against all odds, though, the senior forward has been crowned champion.

No, seriously.

The original contestants included Daimion Collins, Chris Livingston and Adou Thiero. After a poor attempt from Thiero in the opening round, though, Toppin decided to join the competition as a late addition. Kareem Watkins soon followed.

Toppin’s first dunk attempts were filthy, but none landed, leading to a first-round clunker as far as score goes. In round two, though, Toppin pulled off the highest-rated individual dunk of the evening — an up-and-under reverse baseline slam. Judges gave the dunk a 49/50 overall.

Jacob Toppin wins the Big Blue Madness Dunk Contest — and he wasn’t even an official participant.

… nor did he have the highest score.

Most impressive dunk, though? Yeah. pic.twitter.com/vYvArTzEQi

— Jack Pilgrim (@JackPilgrimKSR) October 15, 2022

The second-most impressive dunk of the evening — though it wasn’t even the highest-rated dunk of the round — came from Daimion Collins. The 6-foot-9 forward jumped over three teammates in Sahvir Wheeler, Kareem Watkins and Walker Horn for the vicious throwdown.

Daimion Collins, LOOK OUT BELOW!! pic.twitter.com/LDkVQnvddw

— Jack Pilgrim (@JackPilgrimKSR) October 15, 2022

It was a panel of judges that included former Kentucky standouts Hamidou Diallo, Tyler Ulis, Nick Richards, Kevin Knox and Brandon Knight. Diallo, an NBA Slam Dunk Champion himself, gave one piece of advice for participants: “Don’t miss.”

There were certainly a few of those — and scores were docked accordingly — but the makes were undoubtedly impressive.