Duke player injured as Wake Forest fans invade court, coach calls for ban / News - Basketnews.com

Duke player Kyle Filipowski sustained an ankle injury as Wake Forest fans stormed the court in celebration of an upset victory, prompting Duke coach Jon Scheyer to call for a ban on court storming.

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Duke basketball player Kyle Filipowski suffered an injury as Wake Forest fans stormed the court in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on Saturday.

The celebration followed the Demon Deacons' 83-79 upset victory over the No. 8-ranked Blue Devils. In the midst of the chaos, the sophomore center appeared to collide with a fan while walking to the locker room, requiring assistance to leave the court.

"It's just really ridiculous how that situation is handled," Filipowski told WFMY News after the game. "I absolutely feel like it was personal. Intentional, for sure. Like I said, 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? There's no excuse for that."

Duke coach Jon Scheyer joined in the criticism of courtstorming, advocating for its prohibition.

"When are we going to ban court storming?" Scheyer remarked. "When are we going to ban that? 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.

"You look around the country. Caitlin Clark, something happens. And now Flip, I don't know what his status is going to be. He sprains his ankle. It's one thing, like when I played, at least it was 10 seconds and you storm the court. Now, the buzzer doesn't even go off, and they're running on the floor. This has happened to us a bunch this year."

ACC schools currently lack a fine structure or standardized disciplinary measures for court storming incidents, with each school managing its own events, as reported by ESPN.

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