After No. 10 Duke beat Louisville, the latest on Kyle Filipowski, Caleb Foster injuries
Kyle Filipowski started for No. 10 Duke Wednesday night, just as he had for every Blue Devils basketball game this season, following the injury he suffered in Saturday’s court-storming incident at Wake Forest.
The 7-foot Filipowski left Wake’s Joel Coliseum with his right knee iced and wrapped in plastic after a court-storming Wake fan collided with him following the Demon Deacon’s 83-79 win.
But Filipowski, who Duke coach Jon Scheyer said on Monday was still not 100%, had nine points and 10 rebounds as the Blue Devils beat Louisville, 84-59, at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
The 7-foot Filipowski said the Wake fan hit his knee during the collision, a bone-on-bone contact that left him in pain. But by Tuesday he started feeling better and knew he could play on Wednesday.
“I’m very thankful it wasn’t anything too bad and I was able to I was able to play today,” Filipowski said.
The news wasn’t as good for Duke freshman guard Caleb Foster, who injured a foot during the Wake Forest game and missed the last 15:28 of play. A starter in Duke’s previous three games and 15 total games this season, the 6-5 Foster not only didn’t play against Louisville, he is expected to be out for several games as he recovers.
“My heart breaks for him that he couldn’t play today,” Scheyer said. “He’s had such a good year. He impacts winning in so many ways besides just the box score and just the stats. We’re gonna be without him for some time. I don’t know what that time is. But we have to adjust.”
Foster sat on the bench Wednesday night, not in uniform with a walking boot on right foot. He used a scooter to move around so as not to put weight on his right foot.
Duke (22-6, 13-4 ACC) closes the regular season with three games: Saturday at home with Virginia at 6 p.m., Monday night at N.C. State and March 9 at home with North Carolina. Foster isn’t expected to play in any of those games.
Foster averages 7.7 points and has made 40.6% of his 3-pointers this season. With him unavailable, Duke started sophomore guard Tyrese Proctor along with senior Jeremy Roach and freshman Jared McCain in its three-guard lineup.
Duke has junior guard Jaylen Blakes, who has played 10.1 minutes per game this season, to provide depth off the bench. But Blakes only played three minutes against Louisville as Roach played 34, McCain 32 and Proctor 32.
Duke’s leading scorer and rebounder this season, Filipowski was unable to get off the court at Wake Forest on Saturday as Wake fans stampeded the court. One fan appeared to bang knees with him, sending Filipowski spinning before a student manager and a teammate grabbed him to pull him to safety.
The incident led Scheyer to call for a ban on court-stormings in the interest of player safety.
Duke athletics director Nina King said the situation must be examined.
“This is a serious safety issue that has to be a priority for us,” King told the News & Observer, “so that we can continue to protect our players.”
Wake Forest athletics director John Currie, in a statement, said “we sincerely regret the unfortunate on-court incident.”
“Although our event management staff and security had rehearsed post-game procedures to protect the visiting team and officials,” Currie said, “we clearly must do better.”
The preseason ACC player of the year and a first-team All-American pick, Filipowski averages 16.9 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. He’s projected to be a first-round selection in this summer’s NBA Draft.
He played 27 minutes against Louisville, making four of eight shots from the field. He had six assists, second on the team behind Proctor’s seven.
Filipowski said he was glad to be on the court without missing any game time given all that happened the last five days.
“Obviously, it’s been super crazy just with everything going on,” Filipowski said. “Of course I have my opinions I try to keep to myself and not sharing much because I’m trying to stay focused on the team, stay focused on us winning, things like that. I can’t get too wrapped up into what we did and what happened. It’s just been a lot of focus on us as a team.”
This story was originally published February 28, 2024 at 5:59 PM.