The Blue Devils were defeated, 83-79, at Wake Forest on Saturday afternoon, but what happened after the game is more concerning.
Kyle Filipowski had to be helped off the court with an ankle injury after fans rushed the floor.
With Duke trailing by four points in the final seconds of the game, it attempted a long on-bounds heave but was unsuccessful, and the Demon Deacons won a thrilling victory, with fans at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum storming onto the court.
As the final buzzer sounded, fans rushed onto the court, and the 7-foot Filipowski, who was walking from near midcourt to the postgame handshake line, was caught in the crowd.
He appeared to interact with a few fans before needing assistance leaving the court, surrounded by a wall of Blue Devil players and staff.
In a statement issued following Saturday’s game, Wake Forest athletics director John Currie stated that he “called Duke Vice President and Director of Athletics Nina King and ACC Senior Associate Commissioner Paul Brazeau immediately after the game and expressed our sincere regret for the situation and our concern for the Duke student-athletes well-being.”
“Although our event management and security teams had practiced postgame procedures to protect the visiting team and officials, we needed to improve.
I appreciate Duke Head Coach Jon Scheyer’s postgame comments, and I completely agree that more needs to be done to address the national phenomenon of court and field storming, and Wake Forest looks forward to participating in those discussions,” Currie said.
What happened to Kyle Filipowski?
Duke basketball’s Kyle Filipowski was injured during a court storm by Wake Forest fans after the eighth-ranked Blue Devils’ 83-79 loss in Winston-Salem.
Filipowski, with his right knee wrapped in ice, spoke to reporters after the game about the incident.
“It was my knee,” Filipowski said. “I felt several hits on my body, but this was the worst. As I previously stated, the way that situation was handled was simply ridiculous.
There is no reason why they can’t just work around a big guy like me as I work my way up the court,” he added. “There’s no excuse for that.”
Duke coach Jon Scheyer expressed his displeasure with court storming, calling for it to be banned. “When are we going to ban court storming?”
Scheyer asked the media. “When are we going to ban that? How many times does a player have to get into something where they get punched, pushed, or taunted right in the face?
It’s a dangerous thing. “I’m disappointed we lost, but for me, I’m more concerned about the well-being of our guys,” Scheyer said.
Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes agreed with Scheyer, saying that court-storming should be prohibited during games.
Courtstorming has received more scrutiny since Iowa women’s basketball star Caitlin Clark collided with an Ohio State fan after the Buckeyes’ upset of the Hawkeyes in Columbus on Jan. 21.
Read Also – What happened to Loris Karius? Why was he absent from Newcastle?
