Iowa State’s Georges Niang seals win at Iowa with a kiss to the crowd

The Iowa State men’s basketball team won big at Iowa on Friday night, and Cyclones forward Georges Niang didn’t make Hawkeye fans very happy.

Here is a Vine of his basket near the end of the Cyclones’ 90-75 victory (it comes from Ted Flint) where Niang blows a kiss to the Iowa student section:

“I’d rather he didn’t do it,” Iowa State basketball coach Fred Hoiberg told reporters, “but it’s kind of what makes Georges who he is.”

And Niang’s explanation to The Des Moines Register: “They just heckle us, in the crowd. The reason I blew the kiss is to just say I appreciate you guys doing that and we’re going to head out of here. It’s just the heat of moment. It’s probably something I shouldn’t have done, but when your emotions are so high — and I’m an emotional player — it just happened. I wasn’t really trying to violate or disrespect anyone. It just happened.”

The reaction, as you might expect, was mixed on Twitter: