By AARON BEARD AP Basketball Writer
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — Duke coach Jon Scheyer said he had staff members “that got punched in the face” as North Carolina fans stormed the court to celebrate a late winning shot in the famed rivalry Saturday night, prompting UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham to publicly apologize.
The 14th-ranked Tar Heels stunned the fourth-ranked Blue Devils 71-68 on Seth Trimble’s 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds left, a shot that originally appeared to come as time expired and had jubilant fans rush the court in a chaotic celebration. Officials reviewed the play and determined time was left, so fans had to be cleared for Duke to get one final play before storming the court again when the clock officially hit zero.
“For me it’s hard to talk about the game when I was most concerned just for the safety of our players after the game,” Scheyer said in his opening statement. “I don’t want to make it about that, because Carolina, they played a great game to win. And that’s a heartbreaking loss for our team.
“I got staff members that got punched in the face. My family, pushing people away, trying to not get trampled. That’s not what this game is about.”
Afterward, Cunningham said he apologized to Scheyer before he came in for this postgame news conference and referenced someone being injured. He didn’t have details on who was injured or how. In a text message to The Associated Press and other outlets, program spokesman Kyle Serba said one person tied to the program had been injured but offered no additional details, citing the individual’s privacy.
“When they rushed the court, a number of people got knocked over,” Cunningham said. “But then we had to clear the court again. So when we normally have something like just rushing the court and the game is over, we do have a line by the benches to get people off safely.
“Obviously, if somebody got injured, that’s just really, really disappointing. We’ll do the best we can to make sure that doesn’t happen, but again, my apologies to Duke for that.”
Cunningham said the school would look at video replays to determine exactly what happened.
The safety of players and team staffers during court stormings has been a long-running topic of concern in college athletics. That included roughly two years ago after Duke’s loss at Wake Forest, when Blue Devils player Kyle Filipowski was shaken up after a Demon Deacons fan collided with him, while Jared McCain’s exit to the tunnel was briefly blocked by a Wake Forest fan. Filipowski had his right leg wrapped in plastic to fasten an icebag to his kneecap afterward.
In the immediate aftermath of that 2024 incident, Scheyer asked: “When are we going to ban court-storming?”
Asked Saturday night if he still feels court-storming should be banned, Scheyer said: “I think court-storming is fine, I don’t have any issue with court-storming.
“Just shouldn’t have people getting punched in the face. Shouldn’t put our players in position where they’re face-to-face with people who can do anything at that time. It just takes one reaction. Even today, I had to push people away just to try to protect our players.
“They won, they should celebrate,” Scheyer added. “They want to court-storm, court-storm. But just let’s get our guys off safely, that’s it. That’s where I’m at with that.”