The situation regarding Keyontae Johnson is still largely a mystery but here is everything known so far.
At the 16:37 mark of the first half, Johnson shot an open corner three. His motion looked labored, and he shot fell 3 feet short of the rim and two feet to the right, an uncharacteristically bad miss for a typically reliable three point shooter. After missing the attempt he looked a bit uncomfortable, but sprinted back defensively.
Seconds later, Scottie Lewis came away with a steal and pushed the ball up to Tyree Appleby. Appleby attacked, saw Johnson in his rearview mirror, and tossed up the alley-oop. Johnson soared, caught the ball well above the rim, and threw it down with authority. In that moment Johnson looked fine, throwing down huge dunks like he normally does.
Here is the sequence for Keyontae Johnson just before his collapse. Before his great alley-pop dunk, he had a weak, awkward-looking corner 3 attempt. Early sign of symptoms? After his dunk, his celebration with teammates seemed somewhat subdued after a great play and great start. pic.twitter.com/DNW3me5oDg
— Jonathan Arnholz (@JArnholz) December 12, 2020
Timeout Florida State.
Both teams met at their respective benches, as per normal.
However, when the ref blew the whistle to bring the players back to the bench, disaster struck. Johnson walked to the middle of the court and collapsed without warning.
A few minutes later, a stretcher arrived to take him off the court where he was raced to the hospital. The first update came about 45 minutes later from Florida’s director of communications Denver Parler.
Keyontae Johnson is in critical but stable condition at Tallahassee Memorial. We will provide more updates when we are able.
— Denver Parler (@denverparler) December 12, 2020
Critical is never a word you wanted to hear and it showed the severity of the situation. An hour and a half later when the final buzzer sounded it was announced that Mike White would not be doing the post game press conference and that he’d be going to the hospital to see Johnson.
When that news was released, it was also shared that there was no update on Johnson’s condition.
Given the current traveling party limitations, there was no one close to Johnson that was there with him at the hospital and that’s why White made it a priority to be with him. It was also announced that White will be spending the rest of the day and night in Tallahassee, while the rest of the team will go home to Gainesville as normal and try to deal with what is going on.
There has been plenty of speculation regarding what happened to Johnson but right now it is just that–speculation. As more facts regarding the situation come out we will be sure to share them.
EDIT: 5:20 update, Keyontae Johnson’s family is heading to Tallahassee to be with Johnson.