The Duke court-storming incident has reached a local district attorney, and Jon Scheyer isn’t happy about it.
Scheyer hit back hard at the Orange County district attorney after the Blue Devils’ blowout win over Syracuse on Monday night, just hours after the DA said there was “zero evidence” to support Scheyer’s claim that a Duke staffer was punched in the face after North Carolina fans stormed the court earlier this month.
“I would like to focus on Syracuse, but I’ll tell you that I know what I saw and I know what happened with our staff after the game — and that’s the bottom line,” Scheyer said, via ESPN. “I’m not going to circle back or get into — I don’t know what was said or wasn’t said or what people want to claim.
“But I know what happened, and I’m always going to support our staff in those situations and, again, I could have even said more, but I’m not going to do that.”
North Carolina rallied out of a double-digit hole earlier this month to knock off Duke in the latest edition of their rivalry at the Dean Smith Center. Tar Heels fans rushed their home court to celebrate twice, once prematurely. That led to a $50,000 fine from the ACC.
But after that game, Scheyer revealed a Duke staff member was punched in the face during the scene on the court. He said he got to the locker room and saw the staff member with a bloody lip and disheveled, and that he “got trampled on the floor.” It’s unclear who the staff member is, but Scheyer said days later that he was doing fine.
“It was not a good situation,” Scheyer said last week. “But he’s doing better, he’s fine. Ready to move on. I don’t have anything more to say other than that was a very unsafe situation for him, our staff, our families, our players.”
But on Monday, a local politician got involved.
Advertisement
The district attorney for Orange County, which includes Chapel Hill, spoke out on social media. Jeff Nieman, who is a North Carolina graduate, said there was “zero evidence” anyone was hit in the face and actually blamed Scheyer’s comments for making the situation worse.
“A week has passed, and what seemed likely is now patently obvious. There is zero evidence that anyone from Duke’s basketball program was ‘punched in the face’ at the Smith Center last week,” Nieman wrote. “Nor is there any evidence that a staffer was ‘trampled on the floor’ or ‘in a complete brawl,’ for that matter. Some have asked why I’m talking about this. It’s certainly not because of a sports rivalry. That’s no business of the DA’s Office.
“But I’ve seen firsthand how reckless accusations of violence incite more violence, and that is my business. Someone with the power and influence of a major men’s basketball coach should exercise more discretion before just saying things that can have real-world consequences.”
Duke has won three straight since that loss, and now sits at 24-2. The Blue Devils will take on top-ranked Michigan on Saturday. They’ll host North Carolina again in the final game of the regular season next month, too.
As for the incident, Scheyer is again insisting that he just wants to get it behind them.
“We’re moving on, and I’m really grateful for tonight’s win,” he said Monday.
Leave a Reply