Wake Forest upsets No. 8 Duke as court storming leaves Kyle Filipowski shaken up

Hunter Sallis scored a game-high 29 points and Andrew Carr added 18 points and four assists to lead Wake Forest to a memorable 83-79 upset victory over No. 8 Duke on Saturday afternoon at Lawrence Joel Veteran Memorial Coliseum.

Trailing 81-79 with nine seconds remaining in the game, the Blue Devils had a chance to tie or take the lead, but guard Tyrese Proctor turned it over. Proctor immediately fouled Sallis, who hit a pair of free throws to secure the win, the Demon Deacons’ first victory over a ranked opponent this season.

As the final buzzer sounded, fans stormed the court to celebrate Wake Forest’s epic win. Duke preseason All-American Kyle Filipowski happened to be right in the middle of the court storming and appeared to collide with a fan who rushed the court. Filipowski can be seen grimacing in pain while being helped off the court with assistance from his Duke teammates. Both coaches and players surrounded Filipwowski to protect him from further injury, including Duke head coach Jon Scheyer.

Following the game, Scheyer confirmed that Filipowski suffered a sprained ankle due to the collision, which led to a larger discussion.

“When are we going to ban court storming?” Scheyer asked the media. “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.

“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. It’s one thing, like when I played, at least it was 10 seconds and you 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.”

Clark, who recently broke the record for the most points in Division I women’s basketball history, was accidentally knocked down by a fan running onto the court after Iowa was upset by Ohio State on Jan. 21. The Hawkeyes star was running off the court with her head down when a female fan, trying to film the on-court celebration, banged into Clark. She fell to the floor under one of the baskets as personnel and teammates rushed to her aid.

Clark did not miss any time due to the collision, but it did spark plenty of debate surrounding court storming and if it should be banned.

Filipowski, who is projected to be a top-20 selection in the 2024 NBA Draft, finished Saturday’s game with 17 points and eight rebounds. His status for Duke’s next game remains uncertain.

When asked about the incident following the game, the Blue Devils’ 7-foot sophomore said he felt the collision was intentional.

“I’ve felt a bunch of hits on my body, but this one was the worst of them,” Filipowski said. “It’s just really ridiculous how that situation is handled. 

“I’ve already heard there are some videos of [me] getting punched in the back, so I absolutely feel like it was personal, intentional for sure. There’s no reason where they see a big guy like me trying to work my way up the court and they can’t just work around me.”

The Blue Devils return to action Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET when they host Louisville. Meanwhile, Wake Forest gets set to travel to South Bend to take on Notre Dame on Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET.

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