ACC fines Miami for storming court after win over North Carolina

The ACC has fined Miami $50,000 for storming the court following a win against No. 11 North Carolina, the league announced on Thursday. It is the second such fine in the last week in the conference.

Miami sprang a 75-66 upset of North Carolina on Tuesday night, greatly bolstering its NCAA Tournament resume. And the students and fans at the Watsco Center in Coral Gables were all too happy to celebrate.

They rushed the floor, with many of the 7,355 listed in attendance getting into the action at court level. It was quite the scene, albeit a costly one for the Hurricanes.

The ACC quoted its event security policy as the reason for the fine. The conference’s event security policy is designed to protect the safety and well-being of all student-athletes, coaches, officials and fans.

Fines for a first offense of the event security policy start at $50,000. The fines escalate over time, so Miami will have to be careful going forward. That said, the only currently ranked opponent left on the home schedule is No. 24 Louisville in the regular-season finale.

ACC fines North Carolina for court storm

Before Miami was fined, it was actually North Carolina that drew a fine. The Tar Heels secured a marquee win over rival No. 4 Duke over the weekend.

North Carolina mounted a 13-point comeback to hand the Blue Devils their first loss in conference play.

After senior guard Seth Trimble connected on a 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds left in the game, North Carolina fans prematurely stormed the court. The officials and venue employees had to remove fans from the hardwood so Duke could have its final possession.

Alas, Duke was unable to score with such limited time and North Carolina fans ran onto the court once again. It was chaos, with Duke’s team caught in the ocean of people.

In one video online, a bottle could be seen flying through the air and hitting a member of Duke’s team. After the game, Blue Devils head coach Jon Scheyer claimed members of his staff were assaulted while trying to escape the court.

“For me, it’s hard to talk about the game when I was most concerned for the safety of our players after the game,” Scheyer said. “I don’t want to make it about that, because Carolina played a great game to win. That’s a heartbreaking loss for our team.

“I got staff members that got punched in the face. My family had people pushing 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 that this rivalry is not about.”

On3’s Grant Grubbs also contributed to this report.