Duke is holding its breath right now.
The Blue Devils were upset, 83-79, on Saturday afternoon at Wake Forest, but it’s what happened after the loss that is of more of a concern as forward Kyle Filipowski had to be helped out off the court with an ankle injury after fans rushed the floor.
With Duke down by four points in the final seconds of the game, it tried a long on-bounds heave, but to no avail, and the Demon Deacons won a thrilling win, and fans at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum were so excited that they stormed onto the court.
But as they rushed to the floor, Filipowski appeared to get run into and started limping, and teammates and coaches rushed to help him get off the floor.
The ESPN cameras also caught Filipowski getting helped down the tunnel and into the locker room.
“That should not happen. That right there is why court-storming should not happen,” ESPN analyst Chris Spatola said as the game ended.
After the game, Duke head coach Jon Scheyer said the star player sprained his ankle.
“When are we going to ban court-storming?” he said in his postgame presser.
Filipowski, a sophomore, is a projected lottery pick in the the 2024 NBA Draft.
Coming into the afternoon, he’d averaged 16.9 points — on 50.2 percent shooting from the field — with 8.2 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game.
He scored 17 points with eight rebounds and five assists in Saturday’s loss.
This is a developing story