After unranked Wake Forest upset No. 8 Duke on Saturday on national television in Winston-Salem, N.C., giddy Demon Deacons fans rushed the court in celebration, but it came at the expense of one of Duke’s players. While Blue Devils center Kyle Filipowski was trying to walk off the court, cameras caught fans barreling into him and injuring one of his ankles.
After the ordeal, Duke coach Jon Scheyer made a bold statement regarding the culture of court storming in college basketball.
“I’m more concerned about the well-being of our guys,” Scheyer told reporters. “Flip sprains his ankle—when are we gonna ban court storming? When are we gonna 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? And, it’s a dangerous thing.”
"I'm more concerned about the well-being of our guys… when are we gonna ban court stormings?? How many times does this need to happen?"@DukeMBB coach Jon Scheyer going OFF in his postgame comments 😳🔥 pic.twitter.com/Gki6J3qZq4
— The Field of 68 (@TheFieldOf68) February 24, 2024
— wow that was crazy (@CowardlyDoggo) February 24, 2024
Storming the court is an age-old tradition in college basketball and Scheyer’s take likely will be met with some pushback, but he wasn’t wrong about the dangers.
For now, though, court storming is here to stay. Duke fell to 21–6 overall and 12–4 in ACC play with the loss, while Wake Forest improved to 18–9 overall and 10–6 in conference.