Johnson in Critical But Stable Condition Following Collapse in Loss at FSU

Saturday, December 12

Tallahassee, FL

11 AM

Florida Gators

3-1,0-0SEC

Florida State

3-0,0-0ACC

Team	1	2	F
Florida	35	36	71
Florida St.	45	38	83

UF coach Mike White consoles and encourages his players after they watched Keyontae Johnson fall to the floor in the opening minutes Saturday.

Johnson in Critical But Stable Condition Following Collapse in Loss at FSU

Saturday, December 12, 2020 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry

Box Score

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — After just three minutes and 32 seconds Saturday, the outcome of the Florida-Florida State game was a distant, distant second to what truly mattered for the Gators and their basketball program.

Junior forward Keyontae Johnson, the Southeastern Conference's Preseason Player of the Year, collapsed during a timeout early in the game and was taken from Tucker Center on a stretcher, as his teammates, some in tears, looked on in anguish. About an hour later, Johnson was reported to be in critical but stable condition at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital, as the Gators learned after their heavy-hearted 83-71 loss to the Seminoles.

UF coach Mike White, citing no additional update to Johnson's condition, bypassed his post-game media Zoom to go to the hospital and be with Johnson, who likely will remain there overnight. The rest of the Florida team — players, assistants and support staff — boarded its chartered buses and headed back to Gainesville. No one was made available to comment.

FSU coach Leonard Hamilton, his team down by eight at the time of Johnson's collapse, saw several of his players crying before taking knees to pray for their opponent.

"I did not see what happened, but it had a real dramatic effect on my team," Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton said. "If it affected our players in an emotional way, I can imagine what the situation was with his teammates."

Freshman phenom Scottie Barnes, already projected as a top-10 NBA pick in 2021, scored 17 points, hitting seven of his 10 shots and throwing down some highlight-worthy dunks, and dished five assists to lead the Seminoles (3-0) to a seventh consecutive win in the series. Senior guard M.J. Walker went 12-for-12 from the free-throw line on the way to 17 points, and forward Michael Polite scored all but two of his 14 points in the first half, including a trio of 3-pointers to help the home team open a 10-point lead at intermission. The game was never close after that.

**Keyontae Johnson** (11) backs down FSU's **Michael Polite** in the early moments Saturday.

The Gators (3-1) were led by sophomore guard Scottie Lewis, who equaled his career high of 19 points, making four of five shots from distance, and adding four rebounds, four assists, three steals, but also five turnovers. Sophomore point guard Tre Mann was limited to just nine first-half minutes due to foul trouble, but scored 14 of his 17 points in the second half, with career-best totals of eight rebounds and seven assists. No other UF player reached double-figure scoring, as the team shot just 42 percent for the game versus FSU's 48. The Seminoles hit 54 percent through the first period, including six of 12 from the 3-point line.

Everything changed, not surprisingly, when Johnson dropped to the floor.

Play-by-play man Mick Hubert's call as Keyontae Johnson is taken from the court.

Johnson had just flushed a gorgeous alley-oop pass from backup point guard Tyree Appleby in transition — his second dunk of the game — to put the Gators up 11-3 when Hamilton called a timeout at the 16:18 mark. UF, playing its new pressing and up-tempo style, had started 4-for-8 from the floor and forced four turnovers and converted them into eight points. Johnson had five of them.

But then Johnson collapsed and Florida's players, devastated, were left to deal with the after effects. White gathered them and spoke to them, but his words — whatever they were — only lasted for so long.

After Appleby hit a 3 from the wing, the Gators led 23-14 with just over nine minutes to go before halftime, but then the Seminoles, first Walker and then Polite, dropped consecutive 3s from the corner off baseline-inbound plays. That started a run of 17 consecutive points over the next five minutes that turned UF's nine-point lead into an eight-point deficit.

An old-time 3-point play by Lewis momentarily stopped the FSU spree, but the Seminoles converted on eight straight field goals at one point and eventually went to the locker room up 45-35 and never trailed by fewer than nine the rest of the game.