Courtesy of Norfolk State Athletics
SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Norfolk State guard Christian Ings put on a show on national television, winning the State Farm College Slam Dunk Championship at the Frost Bank Center on Thursday night. Airing live on ESPN, the HBCU hoops star showed no fear on the bright stage. The graduate student used a pass from Creighton’s Steven Ashworth off the side off the backboard, corralling and slamming it down emphatically with one hand.
The dunk earned Ings a perfect score of 40 in the first round. Waiting over 30 minutes for his next opportunity, Ings couldn’t get his first two attempts to fall on the next opportunity. He eventually beat the buzzer, doing a 360-spin in the air for a score of 32.
Ings kept it going with his second semifinal dunk, third overall. Throwing himself a lob in the middle of the paint, he rose up for a windmill that brought flashbacks to one of his viral moments from the 2024-25 season.
Saving the best for last, Ings gave the crowd the closing act it had waited all night to see. Ings needed just one attempt for this one, jumping over 6 foot 8 Iowa forward Payton Sandfort to bring the house down.
SportsCenter Prequel
The HBCU basketball star used his Senior Night as a prequel to his State Farm College Slam Dunk Championship. Delivering two electrifying dunks that both would end up ESPN’s SportsCenter.
The first of Ings’ remarkable dunks saw him split two defenders in a pick-and-roll, soaring over a 6-foot-9 Morgan State player for a poster-worthy slam. Minutes later, he executed a flawless windmill dunk on a fast break, sending the home crowd into a frenzy. This windmill dunk was so spectacular that it claimed the number one spot on SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays for February 25, 2025, while the first dunk came in at number three.