February 24, 2024, 4:44 p.m. ET
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Hunter Sallis scored 29 points while Andrew Carr had a big second-half performance to help Wake Forest beat No. 8 Duke 83-79 on Saturday, boosting its NCAA Tournament chances increased.
As Demon Deacons fans stormed the court to celebrate, Duke star Kyle Filipowski appeared injured after colliding with a fan walking past him as he headed toward the locker room tunnel. He was hobbled and had to be taken off the pitch amid the chaos.
Filipowski said he believes the collision was intentional.
“It’s just ridiculous the way this situation is being handled,” Filipowski told WFMY News after the game. “I absolutely feel like it was personal. That was definitely intentional. Like I said, there's no reason why they see a big guy like me trying to work his way off the court and they can't just work around me, you know? There is no excuse for that.
Duke coach Jon Scheyer believes Filipowski suffered a sprained ankle in the collision.
“When will we ban court storms?” Scheyer asked the media. “When are we going to ban this? How many times does a player have to get into something where they get hit, pushed, or taunted right in the face? This is a dangerous thing.”
“Look around the country. Caitlin Clark, something's happening. And now Flip, I don't know what his status will be. He sprains his ankle. It's one thing, when I played it was at least 10 seconds and you storm the court. Now the buzzer doesn't even ring and they're running on the floor. That’s happened to us a lot this year.”
Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes agreed with Scheyer: court rushes shouldn't be allowed in the game
“I didn’t see what happened in the end. I hope he’s okay,” Forbes said. “I don’t like court storms. I've never had that. I've been there before. They just don’t feel safe.”
Filipowski had 17 points to lead the Blue Devils (21-6, 12-4).
Sallis capped the game with two free throws with 1.8 seconds left to open the celebration for the Demon Deacons (18-9, 10-6 Atlantic Coast Conference). Carr scored 16 of his 18 points after halftime, including dominant periods at the break that prompted the Demon Deacons to send him off the post or score inside over Mark Mitchell.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.