SAD NEWS: A star player is banned from the team by court due to…

Rebels defeat Wyoming in overtime to win on the road.

Tuesday night at Arena-Auditorium in Laramie, the fifth-year forward Kalib Boone scored 24 points to help the UNLV basketball team hold on for a 75-69 overtime victory over Wyoming.

Dedan Thomas Jr., a rookie point guard for UNLV (17-10, 10-5 Mountain West), added 13 points.

Wyoming ends up 6-9 and 13-15.

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Graney: Court storming should be banned from college basketball

Caitlin Clark, Kyle Filipowski incidents bring court storming to light | Ed  Graney | Sports | Sports Columns

There isn’t a single, accepted viewpoint. No self-correcting fix.

I have one: it ought to be illegal to storm courts.

Not that I don’t enjoy watching it, either. Yes, I do.

However, there’s now enough evidence to know that it makes no sense to wait until something really severe happens.

Despite decades of dispute, the subject made headlines once more this past month.

Initially, it was Iowa standout Caitlin Clark running into a woman while storming an Ohio State triumph.

Then, when Wake First defeated the Blue Devils on Saturday, players Kyle Filipowski of Duke was hurt as students stormed the court.

A ‘special moment’

“Obviously, player safety is priority 1-2-3-4 and so on,” UNLV coach Kevin Kruger said Monday. “You love to see the excitement of a program. It’s part of college sports. But you somehow have to make sure everyone is safe or that there are really harsh penalties if that’s not the case.”

Kruger remembers when he was a UNLV player and the Rebels beat a ranked Air Force team at the Thomas & Mack Center. Remembers how the student body rushed the court.

“It was a special moment for our program in an incredibly meaningful game with a great home crowd,” he said. “At the same time, it would have been terrible if someone on Air Force would have gotten hurt.”

Some think hiring more security would help. Others suggest having a mandatory pause of, say, 30 seconds before anyone is allowed to storm their way down would and allow the losing team to leave the court safely.

Problem: You’re dealing with students, some of whom have likely consumed one or 10 “beverages” before the final horn sounds. Often, you’re dealing with thousands of them.

(The kids, not the beverages, but it could be both.)

 

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