A Florida Gators basketball player is in a medically induced coma after collapsing on the court in a terrifying scene

Summary List Placement

A scary scene has left one college basketball star in critical but stable condition, according to his team.

According to his grandfather, the 6-foot-5 junior is in a medically induced coma.

After coming out of an early timeout during the first half of the Florida Gators' Saturday matchup against the Florida State Seminoles, Gators forward and SEC Preseason Player of the Year, Keyontae Johnson collapsed seemingly unprovoked. The jarring scene saw Florida's leading scorer falling face down onto the hardwood with a thud and his teammates frantically calling for help.

 

Shortly thereafter, Johnson was carted out of the gym on a stretcher and brought to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital for further medical attention. But even as the game continued — a decision FSU head coach Leonard Hamilton said was made by the Gators' staff — players from both sides, particularly his teammates, were visibly shaken by what had transpired.

On Monday, the official Twitter account for Florida's men's basketball program announced that Johnson had been transferred to UF Health in Gainesville and that he was in "critical but stable condition." But Johnson's grandfather, Larry DeJarnett, told USA Today that his 21-year-old grandson was placed in a medically induced coma.

"They're just not sure," DeJarnett told USA Today. "He may have had activity in the brain, so they induced the coma. They put him on medication to keep him sedated."

It remains unclear what caused Johnson's sudden and terrifying collapse. The Gators halted team activities as much of the squad was placed in quarantine following positive COVID-19 tests in their ranks, but the program did not disclose whether its star was one of the players to test positive. DeJarnett wasn't even sure whether or not his grandson had ever been diagnosed with the coronavirus.  

"I know that there was some of the times when some of the team was quarantined, yes," DeJarnett confirmed to USA Today on a call. "I don't know if he was one of them or not."

Florida will next take the floor on Wednesday against the North Florida Ospreys, and the Gators will all but certainly be without their star for the foreseeable future.

• Read more:
• A Syracuse basketball star is back on the court after breast cancer, chemo, and a double mastectomy derailed her senior season
• F1 driver Romain Grosjean said he had made 'peace' with dying after seeing 'all orange' during his horrifying fiery F1 crash
• Sarah Fuller said the decision to have her kick for Vanderbilt's football team 'wasn't because I was a girl'
•  
• One of women's college basketball's brightest stars threw down a mid-game dunk against her team's top rivals

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: 70-year-old Brooklyn shop hangs doughnuts on a glazing wall to coat each ring evenly