WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Hunter Sallis scored 29 points while Andrew Carr had a huge second-half performance to help Wake Forest edge No. 8 Duke 83-79 on Saturday, earning a massive boost to its NCAA tournament chances.
As Demon Deacons fans stormed the court to celebrate, Duke star Kyle Filipowski appeared to be injured after a collision with a fan running by him as he walked toward the locker room tunnel. He was hobbled and had to be helped off the court amid the chaos.
Filipowski, who said he injured his knee in the collision, believes the contact was intentional.
“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.”
This gotta change…
— Kyle “Flip” Filipowski (@kylefilipowski) February 24, 2024
Duke coach Jon Scheyer expressed his displeasure with court storming, calling for it to be banned.
“When are we going to ban court storming?” Scheyer asked the media. “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.”
Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes agreed with Scheyer — court stormings should not be allowed in the game
“I didn’t see what happened in the end. I hope he’s okay,” said Forbes. “I don’t like court stormings. I never have. I’ve been a part of those before. They just don’t feel safe.”
Filipowski had 17 points to lead the Blue Devils (21-6, 12-4).
Sallis capped off the game by hitting two free throws with 1.8 seconds left to start the celebration for the Demon Deacons (18-9, 10-6 Atlantic Coast Conference). Carr finished with 16 of his 18 points after halftime, including dominant stretches coming out of the break that had the Demon Deacons feeding him to facilitate out of the post or score over Mark Mitchell inside.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
