Duke students react to court storming at Wake Forest-Duke basketball game

DURHAM, N.C. (WNCN) – Some Duke University students are rethinking rushing a basketball court after fans did just that at Saturday’s game against Wake Forest. Duke men’s basketball coach Jon Scheyer is doubling down on his calls to ban it after star player Kyle Filipowski was injured in the ‘storm’.

CBS 17 spoke to Duke students who said they do not want court storming banned. Many said they love that part of the college sports experience, but after Filipowski’s injury, they agree more needs to be done to keep everyone safe.

“I think it’s fine if you do it, just wait for the players to get off so nobody gets hurt,” Duke student Jean-Luc Rabideau said.

Unfortunately, that was not the case at Saturday’s game. Filipowski collided with multiple Wake Forest students during the rush, and Duke staff and Coach Scheyer all had to help him off the court.

“It’s a shame that he got hurt, but I hope he’s okay,” Rabideau said.

Rabideau added he wants players to be safe.

“You shouldn’t have to be unwillingly a victim of a court storm,” he said.

Other students said they are unhappy with how this was handled.

“I mean if you look at any of the games here or even there, they have huge security staffs, so I think it was kind of disappointing that they weren’t able to control the crowd,” student Nick Sortisio said.

Scheyer is calling for a crackdown.

“One, there’s a way to do it if it’s going to happen, then two, there should be penalties,” he said during an ACC coaches call Monday morning.

After Saturday’s game, Wake Forest Director of Athletics Jon Currie responded on social media. He said security had practiced ways to keep athletes safe, but “we clearly must do better.” Currie also agreed with Coach Scheyer’s comments that “more must be done about the national phenomenon of court and field storming.”

However, some students want to keep court storming.

“It’s just like a buildup of emotions when you’re standing in the student section, you win, you want to get out there, you want to celebrate with the players,” senior Pradnesh Kolluru said.

Filipowski’s injury has made some more cautious, but they do not want the practice banned.

“I also, I love storming the court, but it had never occurred to me that it was a player safety thing, so make sure you think about some things,” senior Eliza Holt said.

Still, Scheyer is calling for the ACC to take action.

“I think it would be wrong of me not to speak up for all of the student athletes that can be put in this position. And something needs to change now before something serious happens,” he said.

The ACC released a statement, saying in part, “The safety of our student athletes is always our top priority… And we will continually assess with our schools the best way to protect our student athletes, coaches and fans.”

As of Monday night, the Atlantic Coast Conference has not announced any official changes to arena protocols.

In terms of how often court storming happens, there is no official data on this, but this is the second court storming incident involving a high-profile player this year. In January, Iowa star Caitlin Clark was knocked down by a fan.

An ESPN review also found over the past three months of college basketball, there have been about three court stormings a week.