Duke’s Filipowski hobbled after fan collision against Wake Forest
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Kyle Filipowski remembered seeing the images of Iowa women's basketball star Caitlin Clark being accidentally knocked down by a fan storming the court after her team suffered an upset loss.
Roughly a month later, Duke's 7-foot star found himself part of the same discussion on the dangers of court-storming, his right leg wrapped in plastic to fasten an icebag to his kneecap. And he wasn't happy about what had just happened.
“Just like any other upset game where the fans rush the court, all hell goes crazy,” Filipowski said after being hobbled in a collision with an on-rushing fan after the eighth-ranked Blue Devils lost at Wake Forest 83-79 on Saturday. “Just trying to get my way off the court, and you know, you've got these crazy college students just doing whatever they want. It's got to be a little more protective when things like that happen.”
The Clark incident, coming Jan. 21 after then-No. 2 Iowa's loss at Ohio State, offered a reminder of the risk facing athletes and coaching staffs stuck in the path of an oncoming exuberant rush of fans eager to celebrate at midcourt.
It's long been regarded as a right of passage and part of the fabric of college athletics, most notably in a sport that captures the national spotlight every year with its “March Madness” spectacle in the NCAA Tournament. Yet Saturday marked the latest incident of the potentially combustible combination created by fans venturing between the lines that belong to the athletes right up to that final horn — this time involving an Associated Press preseason All-American.
Duke coach Jon Scheyer was ready to press that point the moment he sat down at the table for his postgame news conference.
“When are we going to ban court-storming?” Scheyer said. “Like, 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.”
The prologue came with Duke trailing by four with 1.8 seconds left, down to a single inbounds heave for some type of miracle finish. Fans had already moved down to the court area as Mark Mitchell heaved a long inbounds pass that was intercepted by Cam Hildreth near midcourt. And they were at full-sprint once the horn sounded.