Duke head coach Jon Scheyer wants some action to be taken in response to Saturday’s incident.
Scheyer’s Blue Devils lost at Wake Forest 83-79 at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem, N.C. Then the arena turned into a mad house as fans rushed the court to celebrate the win.
Duke star Kyle Filipowski suffered an ankle injury as some fans collided with him while rushing the court (video here).
Scheyer was very clear in his postgame press conference: he wants court storming to be banned.
“I’m more concerned about the well-being of our guys. Flip sprains his ankle. 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,” Scheyer said.
Scheyer credited Wake Forest for the win and said he didn’t want to detract from the Demon Deacons’ victory. But he pointed out that when he played for Duke (2007-2010), at least 10 seconds were allowed for teams to clear off the court before the fans were allowed to start swarming.
The entire practice of fans storming the courts shouldn’t be banned; that’s part of what makes college basketball great. But more security measures should be taken to help players be safe.
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