Rather than addressing the shortcomings amid his team’s blown 13-point lead after North Carolina’s 71-68 win in Chapel Hill on Saturday night, Duke head coach Jon Scheyer went after UNC fans for allegedly punching one of his assistant coaches as they stormed the court after Seth Trimble’s game-winning three-pointer. Then, on Monday, he started to walk that story back.
Scheyer admitted that his assistant coach was not punched by a fan, and was instead caught up in the court storming, which is still a safety concern, but a general issue with court stormings themselves, not North Carolina fans' behavior. Now, a video has emerged that shows Duke players didn’t handle themselves with the utmost decorum postgame, either.
Finally found video evidence of someone hitting someone after the game on Saturday. Viewer Discretion Is Advised! 🤭 pic.twitter.com/pVhEHJrGdM
— ♛Young Simba♛ (A Leaky Black Stan Account) (@CrownedPrinceHC) February 9, 2026
On-court video appears to show Isaiah Evans knocking phone from UNC fan’s hand
The video, which was posted to social media on Monday, appears to show Duke sophomore Isaiah Evans knocking a phone from, presumably, a UNC fan’s hand. The video does not have sound, so it is unknown if the fan or nearby fans said anything to Evans, and if they did, what was said to potentially illicit the response.
Even if nothing was said, it’s somewhat understandable for a player to have that response, assuming the phone was hit and not the fan, if a phone was shoved in their face after a gut-wrenching loss. It does, however, add another layer to Scheyer’s accusations. Here’s what he originally said after the loss.
"It's hard to talk about the game when I was most concerned just for the safety of our players after the game. I don't want to make it about that because Carolina, they played a great game to win, and that's a heartbreaking loss for our team.
[But] I got staff members that got punched in the face. My family pushing people away, trying to not get trampled. That's not what this game is about. You give them all the credit in the world. It's not about the game, but obviously that was a scary ending — and this rivalry is not about that."
Scheyer walked back those comments on Monday, before the video surfaced on social media. Evans’ actions do not take away from how dangerous court stormings can be and how scary it is to have a coach trampled in that fashion. But it is classic Duke for Scheyer to come out and patronize UNC fans before getting his information correct, and when his own players didn’t handle themselves particularly well either.