Florida basketball star Keyontae Johnson continues to make “encouraging progress” since his frightening collapse last Saturday at Florida State, Gators athletics director Scott Stricklin announced Thursday.
UF has decided to postpone three upcoming games while Johnson recovers and continues to undergo extensive tests at UF Health to determine the cause of events that ended with the 21-year-old in a medically induced coma in a Tallahassee hospital.
Coach Mike White’s team will not host games scheduled against Florida Atlantic Saturday, Florida A&M Sunday and James Madison next Tuesday.
“This has been an emotionally taxing time for Keyontae’s family, friends and teammates,” Stricklin said in a statement posted on the team’s Twitter account. “Our hope is that everyone impacted will take an opportunity to process those emotions and regroup ahead of the start of the new year.”
The next game on the Gators’ schedule would be a Dec. 30 visit to Vanderbilt to open SEC play.
Johnson, a 6-foot-5, 229-pound forward from Norfolk, Va., was voted the preseason SEC Player of the Year. He entered the FSU game leading the Gators — 3-1 after an 83-71 loss to the Seminoles — with a scoring average of 19.7 points.
Johnson had scored five points to lead his team to an 11-3 advantage last Saturday in Tallahassee. Following a TV timeout, he collapsed as he exited the team huddle.
Johnson soon was carried away on a stretcher and rushed to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital, where he was said to be in critical but stable condition. He was transferred Monday to UF Health in Gainesville.
By Tuesday, Johnson was communicating with his doctors and parents, who UF flew from Norfolk to be with their son. Johnson even FaceTimed with his teammates.
Stricklin told a Gainesville radio station Wednesday he visited Johnson in the hospital, telling host Steve Russell the news on Johnson’s condition had been “really, really positive in the last 48 hours.”
