An upset victory for the Wake Forest men’s basketball team against ACC rival Duke on Saturday quickly changed its tenor after a player was seemingly injured during the ensuing court-storming by Wake Forest fans.
Duke standout center Kyle Filipowski sprained his ankle, coach Jon Scheyer said, after he got caught in the large group of fans storming the court at Wake Forest’s Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
Demon Deacons fans stormed the court as soon as the clock hit zero, which did not allow for Filipowski to get off the court in time to avoid the rushing crowd. He was helped off by his Duke teammates after he got caught up in the mayhem.
DOWN GOES NO. 8 🚨
It's storming at @WakeMBB after beating Duke ⛈️
🎥: @espn pic.twitter.com/0mRqhzMsKE
— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) February 24, 2024
An overhead video from ESPN shows that purposeful contact might’ve been made during the sequence where Filipowski was injured.
ESPN just showed a new angle of the court-storming at Wake Forest where Duke's Kyle Filipowski was injured. Can clearly see where he hurts his knee as a fan taunts him while racing to midcourt. Unbelievable. pic.twitter.com/ABAsKC2kTI
— Kyle Boone (@kyletheboone) February 24, 2024
Scheyer lamented about Filipowski’s injury in his postgame press conference and called for court-storming to be banned.
Jon Scheyer: “When are we going to ban court-storming? … It’s a dangerous thing.”
Scheyer says Kyle Filipowski sprained his ankle during the Wake Forest court-storm. pic.twitter.com/zE1yr7O6bJ
— Josh Graham (@JoshGrahamShow) February 24, 2024
Filipowski felt that the contact was intentional on behalf of Wake Forest fans.
"I absolutely feel like it was personal, intentional for sure." @DukeMBB's Kyle Filipowski after today's loss to Wake Forest where fans rushed the court. HC Jon Scheyer said Filipowski was injured as he was trying to leave the court. @WFMY @SilkyGilkey pic.twitter.com/jQdzRub0Ng
— Brian Hall (@bhallwfmy) February 24, 2024
Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes joined Scheyer in condoning the court-storming that left Filipowski injured.
"I don't like court stormings," said Steve Forbes in his press conference following his team's win. The Wake Forest head coach was very clear that he didn't condone the court storming that may have injured Filipowski.
— Duke Basketball (@dukebasketball) February 24, 2024
Filipowski is the second high-profile college hoops player to be injured during a court-storming. Iowa women’s basketball sensation Caitlin Clark collided with an Ohio State fan storming the court in January.
If Filipowski misses significant time, it will only further the calls for the ACC (and the NCAA at large) to better regulate, or ban altogether, storming the court in college basketball.
College basketball analysts and fans had plenty of thoughts about this unfortunate incident.
ESPN's Seth Greenberg on court storming after the Kyle Filipowski injury: "Wake Forest dropped the ball. …You have to have a plan in place to make sure these players get off the court safely. …Shame on you." pic.twitter.com/h6WjkxOt7w
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 24, 2024
Storming the court needs to be controlled.
Hope Filipowski is ok
— Keeping It Heel (@KeepingItHeel) February 24, 2024
The discourse about court storming is about to become insufferable …
— Bennett Conlin (@BennettConlin) February 24, 2024
Kyle Filipowski had a collision with a fan during the court storm and had to be hobbled off the court. TERRIBLE job by Wake Forest to protect the players.
This is why court storms need to stop. Hope he's okay.
— Seth Davis (@SethDavisHoops) February 24, 2024
Welp, court-storming had a good run.
— Joey Powell (@Joey_Powell) February 24, 2024
Wake might’ve punched their ticket to the NCAA and effectively ended court storms in the ACC on the same day.
— Joe Ovies (@joeovies) February 24, 2024
Seeing tweets about a player being injured during a court storm: I’m shocked injuries don’t happen more than this. Not really sure what the contracted “security” staff are even for.
— Joey Powell (@Joey_Powell) February 24, 2024
Flip shouldn’t have to rush to get off the court.
He just played an intense, draining basketball game.
The court is the players’ space. The stands are for the fans. This shouldn’t be difficult. https://t.co/fxeWDFzWfZ
— Josh Graham (@JoshGrahamShow) February 24, 2024
Absolute disaster if Filipowski’s seriously hurt from getting run over during a court storm. This has to stop. It’s been a lit fuse forever and maybe now people will do something about it. @joeydoster
— Luke DeCock (@LukeDeCock) February 24, 2024
"That should not happen. That right there is why court-storming should not happen."
ESPN's Chris Spatola weighs in on court-storming after Duke's Kyle Filipowski hurt following Wake Forest's upset win over Duke.
(Correction: this tweet initially attributed that line to… pic.twitter.com/7UYy9Tudpu
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 24, 2024
If Filipowski is hurt, this may be the end of court storming pic.twitter.com/j6q8WHcaRz
— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) February 24, 2024
"There are actually people who have stormed a court and been seriously injured during that. … It just didn't happen on CBS or ESPN so it didn't register nationally. … Even if [Kyle Filipowski is] okay, it is clear he could not have been and that's why we have to put an end to… pic.twitter.com/jZJlN952K8
— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) February 24, 2024
