The ACC fined North Carolina $50,000 on Sunday, the result of the university violating “the league’s event security policy” at the end of a chaotic win over rival Duke a night earlier in Chapel Hill.
The 14th-ranked Tar Heels stunned the fourth-ranked Blue Devils 71-68 on Seth Trimble‘s 3-pointer with 0.4 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.
The fan behavior was at the front of Duke coach Jon Scheyer’s mind after the game. He said he had staff members who “got punched in the face” as fans stormed the court. Duke spokesman Kyle Serba said one person tied to the program had been injured but offered no additional details, citing the individual’s privacy.
UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham publicly apologized later Saturday night.
“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 ACC said the $50,000 was incurred because if was UNC’s first offense. It will go toward a conference scholarship fund for student-athletes.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
