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Duke's Jon Scheyer on Clemson basketball fans court storming: 'Wasn't a safe environment'
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- Duke's Jon Scheyer on Clemson basketball fans court storming: 'Wasn't a safe environment'
Clemson basketball 's upset win vs. then-No. 2 Duke on Saturday led to its second court storming this season at Littlejohn Coliseum.
However, the court storm made Duke coach Jon Scheyer and his players uncomfortable, expressing concerns over player safety.
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"I think they should rush and court storming and all that, (but) we got to get our players off the court safely, and that wasn't a safe environment, no question about it," Scheyer said during Monday's ACC coaches call. "I was put in a position where I shielded our guys from people running up and getting in their face."
When the final buzzer came, multiple Duke staffers ran onto the court to secure Blue Devil players and protect them from fans. Clemson coach Brad Brownell helped Scheyer and the Blue Devils off the court to avoid the large gathering, and Scheyer made sure to not criticize the 15-year Tigers coach.
Duke, a blue-blood basketball program, is frequently exposed to court-storming chances in road games because of its status and ranking. These events have led to some of its prominent players getting injured in the past, including Kyle Filipowski , who suffered a knee injury in the middle of a court storm last year.
Brownell used to think fans' court storming was a positive part of the sport but expressed last season it may be time for a change for player safety.
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"I hate it because that's what's great about college [basketball] – you're experiencing it with your student body," Brownell said last season. "Having said that, we can't have players getting hurt."
The ACC doesn't have a fine structure or disciplinary measures in place for when fans court storm. Still, there are other structures in place Scheyer would like to see implemented to address the issue.
The SEC has a fine structure in place for "any field or court rush that occurs when the visiting team and/or game officials are still on the playing surface." The first violation is a $100,000 fine, the second is a $250,000 fine and the third and so on is $500,000.
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MORE: How Clemson basketball's upset of Duke is signaling what it can do in NCAA tournament
Vanderbilt implemented a new postgame court-storming policy after being fined a total of $750,000 for students storming the court after home wins against Tennessee and Kentucky . It will have a one-minute countdown clock that will appear on the video board after the conclusion of basketball games to allow the court to be clear first.
Scheyer would like to see a similar change come to the ACC, so he can focus on basketball in the final minutes, not protecting his players.
"(Player safety) shouldn't be my responsibility in that moment," Scheyer said. "Security should have that taken care of."
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Derrian Carter covers Clemson athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at dcarter@gannett.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DerrianCarter00
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Duke's Jon Scheyer on court storming after Clemson basketball's win
