$795,000 NIL-valued Kyle Filipowski breaks silence on getting injured owing to court storming: "It's time to change the rules"
In a game where he registered 17 points, eight rebounds and five assists, Kyle Filipowski was at the end of a nasty ordeal Saturday after No. 8 Duke went down 83-79 to Wake Forest.
The Demon Deacons fans stormed the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum court, and one fan appeared to step on Filipowski, injuring his right leg before his teammates came to his aid.
After the game, the $795,000 NIL-valued center (as per On3) commented on an Instagram post discussing the matter with a solution to the issue that has bugged college basketball this season.
"It's time to change the rules," Filipowski wrote.
Filipowski also took to his X account and posted:
"This gotta change."
During his postgame news conference, Blue Devils coach Jon Scheyer expressed his disappointment at the Kyle Filipowski incident and mentioned other close shaves in venues around the country.
“When are we going to ban court storming?” said Scheyer. “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.
“You look around the country, Caitlin Clark, something happens. And now Flip, I don’t know what his status is going to be.”
Scheyer also ranted against the Demon Deacons fan's conduct.
“When I played, at least it was 10 seconds and you storm(ed) the court,” Scheyer said. “Now, the buzzer doesn’t even go off and they’re running on the floor. This has happened to us a bunch this year. … I don’t want this to take away at all from Wake (Forest). They earned it, they deserve the win.”
Kyle Filipowski gets sympathy for scary ordeal
During his postgame news conference on Saturday, Kyle Filipowski narrated how the ordeal unfolded on the court.
“I felt a bunch of hits on my body. This one was the worst of them,” Filipowski said.
“I absolutely felt like it was personal. Intentional, for sure. There’s no reason where they see a big guy like me trying to work my way off the court and they can’t just work around me, you know? There’s no excuse for that.”
Steve Forbes, the Wake Forest coach, was critical of the Kyle Filipowski incident.
“I didn’t see what happened in the end. I hope he’s OK,” Forbes said. “I don’t like court stormings. I never have. I’ve been a part of those before as a coach. It just (doesn’t) feel safe.”
John Currie, the Wake Forest athletic director, released a statement about the issue afterward:
“I am in complete agreement that something more must be done about the national phenomenon of court and field storming and Wake Forest looks forward to being a part of those conversations.”
The clip of Kyle Filipowski being swarmed by Demon Deacons fans has been a trend on social media, with fans shocked at how close a shave it was for the Duke center.