If choking away a big lead to heated rival North Carolina isn’t bad enough, Jon Scheyer is now being accused of lying by a North Carolina district attorney.
Jeff Nieman, the district attorney for Chatman and Orange Counties in North Carolina, called out the Duke head coach after he said staff members got “punched in the face” after Tar Heels fans stormed the court following an upset win in Chapel Hill on Feb. 7.
“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. Nor is there any evidence that a staffer was ‘trampled on the floor’ or ‘in a complete brawl’, for that matter,” Nieman tweeted Monday afternoon.
“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.”
After a 101-64 home thrashing of Syracuse on Monday night, Scheyer stood by his story.
“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. 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,” Scheyer said. “I’m always going to support our staff in those situations, and again, I could’ve even said more and I’m not going to do that, but we’re moving on. … But I don’t want to go back.”
This Tobacco Road drama dates back to the teams’ first meeting this season when North Carolina rallied to stun Duke, 71-68, on Seth Trimble’s 3-pointer in the final seconds.
Fans stormed the court after the team’s largest comeback win over Duke in 25 years — according to the ESPN broadcast — and that’s when Scheyer alleges things went off the rails.
“I got staff members that got punched in the face,” Scheyer said that day. “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.”
Nieman posted Monday after the rivalry game, asking for evidence of any said assaults for potential prosecutions, noting that “what particularly interests” him was the alleged punches.
“On Saturday night, Duke men’s basketball coach alleged multiple assaults occurring against his staff. If provided with evidence to support these allegations, they should be charged and we will prosecute,” he wrote in a two-part tweet on Feb. 9. “With over 20,000 recording devices there, it’s impossible to imagine that these assaults would not have been captured on one or more of them. So please, if you are in possession of evidence of these crimes, please come forward.”
Duke and North Carolina meet again on March 7 in Durham in the teams’ regular-season finales in what will surely be an intense atmosphere.
The Blue Devils (24-2, 13-1 ACC) first have a massive game Saturday against top-ranked Michigan that could influence the No. 1 seeds in the upcoming NCAA Tournaments.
North Carolina (20-5, 8-4) is trying to stay afloat without starter Caleb Wilson, who recently broke his hand.
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