Jon Scheyer says Duke staff members were punched in face during UNC’s court storming: ‘This rivalry is not about that’

Seth Trimble hit the 3-pointer of his life as No. 14 North Carolina rallied from a 13-point deficit to beat No. 4 Duke 71-68 on Saturday night.

Chaos ensued: two court storms, one when Tar Heels fans thought the game was over, and the second after the final 0.4 seconds had expired.

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For UNC, this is gratifying.

For Duke, it was emotionally painful and, according to Jon Schell, physically as well.

The Blue Devils head coach told reporters after the loss that the Duke staffer was punched in the face during a wild drive at the end of the game.

“[But] I had staff members get punched in the face. My family pushed people away to avoid being trampled on. That’s not what this game is about. You give them all the credit in the world. It had nothing to do with the game, but obviously it was a terrible ending – and the rivalry had nothing to do with that. “

This isn’t the first time Scheyer, 38, has been outspoken about his distaste for courtroom violence.

In fact, he called for a ban on the celebrations nearly two years ago.

At the time, Scheyer was in his second season as head coach at his alma mater for four seasons, having helped his team win a national championship as a guard in 2010.

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Duke had just lost to Wake Forest, and star forward Kyle Filipowski injured his knee in the chaos.

“When are we going to ban court storming?” Shaye said after the game on February 24, 2024.

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He added at the time: “When I play, there’s at least 10 seconds and then they’re running on the floor,” he added at the time explain. “Now, the buzzer doesn’t even go off and they’re running on the floor. We’ve had that happen a lot this year.”

While Saturday’s doubleheader caught the public’s attention, this has happened before given the grand stage Duke-UNC offers.

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In fact, just last week, UCF’s court storm had just begun. The first time, fans were herded back to their seats after officials determined the situation. 11 Texas Tech was hit with two free throws for a last-second foul.

After these attempts, the buzzer sounds again and the chaos begins again.