02/07/26 09:36:00
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02/07 21:34 CST Duke's Scheyer says staff members 'got punched in the face'
during court-storming; UNC AD apologizes
Duke's Scheyer says staff members 'got punched in the face' during
court-storming; UNC AD apologizes
By AARON BEARD
AP Basketball Writer
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) --- Duke coach Jon Scheyer said he had staff members
"that got punched in the face" as North Carolina fans stormed the court to
celebrate a late winning shot in the famed rivalry Saturday night, prompting
UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham to publicly apologize.
The 14th-ranked Tar Heels stunned the fourth-ranked Blue Devils 71-68 on Seth
Trimble's 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds left, a shot that originally appeared to
come as time expired and had jubiliant fans rush the court in a chaotic
celebration. Officials reviewed the play and determined time was left, so fans
had to be cleared for Duke to get one final play before storming the court
again when the clock officially hit zero.
"For me it's hard to talk about the game when I was most concerned just for the
safety of our players after the game," Scheyer said in his opening statement.
"I don't want to make it about that, because Carolina, they played a great game
to win. And that's a heartbreaking loss for our team.
"I got staff members that got punched in the face. My family, pushing people
away, trying to not get trampled. That's not what this game is about."
Afterward, Cunningham said he apologized to Scheyer before he came in for this
postgame news conference and referenced someone being injured. He didn't have
details on who was injured or how, and Duke program spokesman Kyle Serba didn't
immediately return a text message for comment.
"When they rushed the court, a number of people got knocked over," Cunningham
said. "But then we had to clear the court again. So when we normally have
something like just rushing the court and the game is over, we do have a line
by the benches to get people off safely.
"Obviously, if somebody got injured, that's just really, really disappointing.
We'll do the best we can to make sure that doesn't happen, but again, my
apologies to Duke for that."
Cunningham said the school would look at video replays to determine exactly
what happened.
The safety of players and team staffers during court stormings has been a
long-running topic of concern in college athletics. That included roughly two
years ago after Duke's loss at Wake Forest, when Blue Devils player Kyle
Filipowski was shaken up after a Demon Deacons fan collided with him, while
Jared McCain's exit to the tunnel was briefly blocked by a Wake Forest fan.
Filipowski had his right leg wrapped in plastic to fasten an icebag to his
kneecap afterward.
In the immediate aftermath of that 2024 incident, Scheyer asked: "When are we
going to ban court-storming?"
Asked Saturday night if he still feels court-storming should be banned, Scheyer
said: "I think court-storming is fine, I don't have any issue with
court-storming.
"Just shouldn't have people getting punched in the face. Shouldn't put our
players in position where they're face-to-face with people who can do anything
at that time. It just takes one reaction. Even today, I had to push people away
just to try to protect our players.
"They won, they should celebrate," Scheyer added. "They want to court-storm,
court-storm. But just let's get our guys off safely, that's it. That's where
I'm at with that."
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