Duke’s Kyle Filipowski blames knee injury on Wake Forest: “I feel it was personal, intentional for sure”
Kyle Filipowski injured his knee in the aftermath of a crowd-storming incident following Duke's 83-79 loss against Wake Forest on Saturday. The Duke Blue Devils forward was helped by his teammates and coach as he limped toward the locker room.
When talking to the media later, Filipowski claimed it was all deliberate. He said:
“I’ve already heard that there’s some videos of getting punched in the back. So I absolutely feel like it was personal, intentional, for sure. Like I said, 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 their way around me, you know? There’s no excuse for that,” Filipowski told WFMY News
“I felt a bunch of hits on my body. This one was the worst of them. It’s just really ridiculous of how that situation’s handled,” he added.
Both coaches express anger at the Kyle Filipowski incident
Duke's head coach expressed his anger at the situation. He demanded that court-stormings be banned while pointing out a previous incident.
“When are we going to ban court-storming? 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,” Scheyer said.
"You look around the country. Caitlin Clark, something happens. And now Flip, I don't know what his status is going to be. He sprains his ankle," he added.
In January following Ohio State's win over the Iowa Hawkeyes, a fan came onto the court and collided with Iowa guard Caitlin Clark. Although no one was injured, incidents like this call for more caution and a change in rules. Some move, like in the Southeastern Conference where monetary fines are levied against the offending school for not protecting visiting teams in those situations, could be considered.
On Thursday, the SEC fined LSU $100,000 for the same reason after their victory over No. 17 Kentucky. Kyle Filipowski said he was all on board with a similar rule to be implemented in ACC as well.
Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes shared Scheyer's feelings on court-storming as he said:
"I didn't see what happened in the end. I hope he's okay. I don't like court stormings. I never have. I've been a part of those before. They just don't feel safe."
While court-storming is a part of basketball culture, with a rise in injury scares from these incidents, the leagues must rethink their stance on this. Duke will take on Louisville next on Wednesday and Blue Devils await the verdict of Kyle Filipowski's return to playing.
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