Tag: Court Storming

Wake Forest athletic director releases statement after Saturday’s court-storming incident

Wake Forest athletic director John Currie released a statement on Saturday to express regret for the court-storming incident that injured Kyle Filipowski.

Court-storming became a hot-button issue for all the wrong reasons on Saturday when Duke star Kyle Filipowski got caught in a crowd of Demon Deacons fans and ended up needing to be helped off the court.

Filipowski said he hurt his knee during the debacle, and replay showed some Wake Forest fans made their way onto the court before the final buzzer sounded.

Wake Forest athletic director John Currie released a statement on the incident later on Saturday evening.

“On behalf of Wake Forest, we sincerely regret the unfortunate on-court incident following (Saturday) afternoon’s men’s basketball game and hope the involved Duke student-athlete is doing better,” Currie wrote.

The athletic director added that he called Duke athletic director Nina King to apologize, and he reached out to ACC Senior Associate Commissioner Paul Brazeau to do the same.

Currie also expressed his support for Duke head coach Jon Scheyer, who emphatically asked for court-storming to be banned after the incident.

“I am in complete agreement that something more must be done,” Currie wrote. “And Wake Forest looks forward to being a part of those conversations.”

The five biggest takeaways from Duke’s loss to Wake Forest

From the postgame court storming to some crucial turnovers in the closing minutes, here are our biggest takeaways from Saturday’s game against the Demon Deacons.

The Blue Devils lost their third game in 10 weeks on Saturday, a nail-biting four-point loss on the road against Wake Forest.

Duke performed pretty exceptionally for most of the game, given the circumstances. The Blue Devils scored 79 points and shot 53.1% from the floor, and Duke made 11 of its 25 3-point attempts.

The star trio of Kyle Filipowski, Jared McCain, and Jeremy Rooach all scored at least 15 points. McCain made three of his four 3-point attempts, Filipowski had eight rebounds and five assists, and Roach made six of his eight shots from the floor.

The effort wasn’t enough against one of the best teams in the ACC, however, as Demon Deacons were led by 29 points from Gonzaga transfer Hunter Sallis in the statement home win.

The star-making performance was unfortunately overshadowed by a postgame altercation between Wake Forest fans and Filipowski, who was injured amid a court-storming.

How much of Saturday was a compliment to Wake Forest, and how much was a negative toward Duke? Here are our biggest thoughts on the game.

Kyle Filipowski says court-storming altercation with Wake Forest fans felt intentional

Star Blue Devils forward Kyle Filipowski needed to be helped off the court after a run-in with Wake Forest fans, and he said the sequence felt personal and intentional.

Duke star forward Kyle Filipowski needed to be helped off the court with a knee injury on Saturday after he collided with some Wake Forest fans storming the court, and he said after the game that the sequence felt personal.

“I absolutely feel like it was personal,” Filipowski said of the incident after the game in a video posted by WFMY News 2’s Brian Hall. “Intentional, for sure.”

Fans across the nation tried to analyze the video, which appeared to show a fan colliding with Filipowski’s knee and the Duke player extending his arms out toward the fan, to decide how everything went down. The Duke 7-footer had his thoughts on the matter.

“There’s no reason where they see a big guy like me trying to work my way off the court and they can’t just work around me, you know?” he added.

Filipowski also shared his thoughts on court-storming after the game, posting the phrase “This gotta change…” on the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter).

Filipowski said after the game that his knee was injured during the sequence.

Duke head coach Jon Scheyer calls for a ban of court storming after Filipowski injury

After Iowa star women’s basketball player Caitlin Clark ran into an Ohio State fan last month and Kyle Filipowski was hurt against Wake Forest on Saturday, Jon Scheyer didn’t mince words while calling for a court-storming ban.

Duke star forward Kyle Filipowski needed to be helped off the court with a knee injury after he collided with a Wake Forest fan after Saturday’s game.

The injury came after a sold-out Demon Deacons crowd stormed the court after the upset win, and Duke head coach Jon Scheyer didn’t mince words on his thoughts about the practice after the game.

“I’m more concerned about the well-being of our guys,” Scheyer said. “When are we going to ban court storming?”

“How many times does a player have to get into something where they get punched or they get pushed or they get taunted right in their face? It’s a dangerous thing.”

Scheyer said he didn’t want the incident to take away from the Demon Deacons’ victory, but he referenced remembering that fans gave players a few seconds to get off the court when he was a player.

Scheyer also referenced Iowa star women’s basketball player Caitlin Clark, who collided with an Ohio State fan after an upset loss earlier this season.

“That needs to stop,” Scheyer said to conclude his comments.