The No. 8 Duke Blue Devils recently lost to the Wake Forest Demon Deacons with a concluding score of 83-79. The matchup also saw the crowd pilling up on the court as soon as the last point was finishing up.
The fans came on to the court and due to a collision with one of the fans, Duke star Kyle Filipowski was seen hobbling on the court. This incident has further lighted the dangerous situations created by court storming.
Just two days ago, the SEC fined LSU $100,000 for storming the court—but the ACC doesn’t penalize it.
Wake Forest just beat Duke, stormed the court, and Kyle Filipowski appears to be hurt in the process.
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) February 24, 2024
A fan was running by him and Filipowski took a hit in his right leg, and consequently he was crippled. The player was spun off balance during the mayhem but managed to hold onto the manager and another player Stanley Borden. He was still hobbling but with their help he managed to go to the locker room successfully.
Regarding the incident, Filipowski shared as per ESPN via WFMY News, “It’s just really ridiculous how that situation is handled. 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.”
This gotta change…
— Kyle “Flip” Filipowski (@kylefilipowski) February 24, 2024
Filipowski also shared a post on Platform X, formerly Twitter where he expressed his sentiments stating, “this gotta change”. Duke coach Jon Scheyer shared regarding the incident, “When are we going to ban court storming? 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.”
Further continuing, “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.”
Steve Forbes, Wake Forest coach also expressed his concern stating, “I didn’t see what happened in the end. I hope he’s OK. I don’t like court stormings. I never have. I’ve been a part of those before. They just don’t feel safe.”
Wake Forest athletic director John Currie issued a statement as well which said, “Although our event management staff and security had rehearsed postgame procedures to protect the visiting team and officials, we clearly must do better”.
Jim Phillips, the ACC Commissioner also came forward and expressed this in a statement, “We have been and will continue to be, in contact with both Duke and Wake Forest regarding what happened following today’s game.”
Further continuing, “Across college athletics, we have seen far too many of these incidents that put individuals at serious risk, and it will require the cooperation of all — including spectators — to ensure everyone’s well-being. As a conference, we will continually assess with our schools the best way to protect our student-athletes, coaches, and fans.”
