PHOTO: Kyle Filipowski's GF Caitlin Hutchison rocks special merchandise featuring Duke star
Duke Blue Devils star Kyle Filipowski has led his team to three consecutive wins since losing to unranked Wake Forest, where he got injured after Demon Deacons fans stormed the court. The Blue Devils have beaten NC State, Virginia and Louisville and face No. 7 UNC in their final regular season game on Saturday.
In a social media post, Filipowski's longtime girlfriend, Caitlin Hutchison, rocked special custom-made merchandise featuring Filpowski's best moments on the court. The 7-foot center posted the picture on his Instagram stories on Wednesday, tagging Hutchison and a link to buying the T-shirt.
Kyle Filipowski and the court storming controversy
Kyle Filipowski was the victim of an incident where he injured his knee after the Duke Blue Devils suffered an upset 83-79 loss to the Wake Forest Demon Deacons on Feb. 24, and the latter's fans stormed the court.
After the game, Filipowski described the sequence of events that led to his injury.
“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.”
During his postgame news conference, Duke coach Jon Scheyer was incensed at the apparent injury suffered by Filipowski:
“Disappointed we lost, but for me it’s more concern about the well-being of our guys. Flip sprains his ankle, when are we going to ban court-storming? 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.
“When I played, at least it was 10 seconds and you could storm the court. Now the buzzer doesn’t even go off and they’re running on the floor. This has happened to us a bunch this year. You look around the country, Caitlin Clark, something happens. And now Flip, I don’t know what his status is going to be.”
Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes also sided with Scheyer's call to ban the practice after learning about the Duke center's injury.
“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.”
Demon Deacons athletics director John Currie released a statement railing against the incident:
“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.”
Jim Phillips, the Atlantic Coast Conference commissioner, promptly released a statement after the Kyle Filipowski incident:
“Across college athletics, we have seen far too many of these incidents that put individuals at serious risk, and it will require the cooperation of all – including spectators – to ensure everyone’s well-being.”
Kyle Filipowski seems to have bounced back from the incident and led the Blue Devils to three consecutive wins after the controversial incident.