CHAPEL HILL — Duke coach Jon Scheyer said that Blue Devils staff members were punched in the face and his family feared for its safety when North Carolina fans stormed the court at the end of Saturday’s game.
UNC won 71-68 on Seth Trimble’s 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds remaining. Fans stormed the court after he made the shot, then had to be ushered off the court for a final play. After Duke’s final play, which didn’t result in a shot, fans again stormed the court.
“I got staff members that got punched in the face,” Scheyer said. “My family [was] pushing people away, trying to not get trampled. That’s not what this game is about. You give them all the credit in the world. It’s not about the game, but obviously that was a scary ending and this rivalry is not about that.”
The ACC implemented fines for storming the field or court this year, a move that came, in part, due to a February 2024 court storm at Wake Forest. Duke star Kyle Filipowski was injured in that storm.
Schools face fines of $50,000, $100,000 and $200,000 per offense from the ACC that will accumulate through two seasons in football and basketball. Schools are expected to have a plan to get opposing teams and personnel off the court safely.
“I think court storming’s fine,” Scheyer said. “I don’t have any issue with court storming. 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 ,Court storming, I’m all for it. They won. They should celebrate. If they want to court storm, court storm. But just let’s get our guys off safely.”
North Carolina athletics director Bubba Cunningham spoke to the media after the game and said he offered his apologies to Scheyer.
“I apologize to coach, his family and, obviously, if somebody got injured, that’s just really disappointing,” Cunningham said. “But we’ll do the best we can to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
Cunningham said North Carolina officials would review video of the incident to see what happened. He said people were knocked over.
“Unfortunate things happen when so many people rush like that,” Cunningham said. “That was just unfortunate. Hope it doesn’t happen again.”