Duke basketball‘s Jon Scheyer did not want to revisit what happened in Chapel Hill following the No. 3 Blue Devils rout over Syracuse on Monday, Feb. 16, but he made one thing clear.
“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 when asked about Orange County District Attorney Jeff Nieman’s comments that there was “zero evidence” that a Duke staffer was punched following the Feb. 7 game.
Advertisement
“I’m not going to go and 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. Again, I could have even said more and I’m not going to do that, but we’re moving on and really grateful for tonight’s win, but I don’t want to go back.”
Nieman has been outspoken since the incident, posting on X on Monday, Feb. 9 that if there was evidence to support the claims, his office would prosecute. He went back to X on Monday, Feb. 16, writing “what seemed likely is now patently obvious,” and that there was “zero evidence,” to back up the claims.
The court-storming occurred after Seth Trimble’s go-ahead 3-pointer capped a 9-0 UNC run to close the game and give the Tar Heels their first lead over Duke with 0.4 seconds left. A premature storming of the court by fans followed the shot before officials cleared the floor, and fans rushed the court again once the final buzzer sounded.
Advertisement
Scheyer opened his postgame press conference stating a member of his staff had been “punched in the face,” and added a few days later that his staffer “looked like he had been in a complete brawl” after the game but was “doing better.”
UNC was fined $50,000 by the ACC on Sunday night, with the league citing a violation of its event security policy.
Duke defeated Syracuse 101-64 behind 61 points in the second half. It now looks ahead to taking on No. 1 Michigan in a nonconference, neutral-site contest at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, Feb. 21.
SYRACUSE WIN: Duke basketball humiliates Syracuse: Score, highlights
Advertisement
DUKE BASKETBALL: Jon Scheyer says staffers got ‘punched in the face’ during court storm at UNC
Anna Snyder covers Duke for The Fayetteville Observer as part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at asnyder@usatodayco.com or follow her @annaesnydr on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Duke basketball’s Jon Scheyer responds to DA’s comments on alleged assault
