Duke University basketball star Kyle Filipowski was injured in a game on Saturday when fans of Wake Forest’s Demon Deacons rushed the court to celebrate their win against the Blue Devils in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Footage of the chaos broadcast by ESPN shows the moment a fan collided with the 20-year-old star center at the NCAA tournament, causing him to tumble and injure his knee. The 7-foot athlete was filmed limping off-court with the help of a Duke teammate and staffer.
“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,” Filipowski told WFMY News in the aftermath of the court storming, calling the incident “ridiculous.” He later took to X to post “This gotta change.”
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Head coach of the Duke Devils, Jon Scheyer, later called for an all-out ban on court storming in college basketball, calling it “a dangerous thing.” “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?” he said.
Scheyer’s Wake Forest counterpart, head coach Steve Forbes, echoed his concerns. “I don't like court stormings. I never have. I've been a part of those before. They just don't feel safe,” he said.
In a statement addressing the incident, ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said they would probe the incident and would be in touch with “both Duke and Wake Forest regarding what happened following today's game.”
“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,” Phillips said.
