High Stakes, High Emotions in 'Key' Game for Gators

Saturday, January 28

Manhattan, KS

6 PM

Florida Gators

Kansas State

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Keyontae Johnson before his UF "Senior Day" last March 5.

High Stakes, High Emotions in 'Key' Game for Gators

Saturday, January 28, 2023 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

MANHATTAN, Kan. — If it's possible to both anticipate a game and dread it at the same time, this is that game.

When the programmers at ESPN went looking for the best matchups for the 2023 SEC/Big 12 Challenge they had no idea when pairing Florida against Kansas State, a rare matchup against two opponents who had faced each other only twice in their histories, they scripted one of the most dramatic pregame storylines of the entire college basketball season.

"When I watch him on TV now it is so bizarre to see him in a different uniform," UF associate athletic director and longtime men's basketball trainer Dave Werner said. "I know how much Keyontae loved being at Florida and that he truly is a Gator at heart."

Keyontae Johnson is now not only a K-State Wildcat, as well, but a superstar in the Big 12 Conference, much like he was for just over two seasons in the Southeastern Conference before the frightening turn of events on Dec. 12, 2020. The plight of Johnson's haunting collapse at Tallahassee that morning, the uncertain months that followed and the revival of his on-court greatness halfway across the country will be relived in the run-up to Saturday night's showdown between the Gators (12-8) and the fifth-ranked Wildcats (17-3) at Bramlage Coliseum.

[Read senior writer Chris Harry's "Pregame Stuff" setup here]

Twenty-five months later, the 6-foot-6, 230-pound forward is putting together the type of season as a Big 12 rookie that was anticipated when Johnson was named the 2020 preseason SEC Player of the Year. He's averaging 18.3 points on 55-percent from the floor and 44 from the 3-point line to go with 7.5 rebounds per game. The K-State program was coming off a third consecutive losing season, but Johnson has helped the Wildcats to their highest ranking in 12 years and in contention for the conference title, with his most heroics a game-winning alley-oop dunk last week in the closing seconds of an upset of reigning national champion and hated rival Kansas.

Johnson, who figures to be in some All-America conversations, is now reappearing in some NBA mock drafts, where he was projected as a slam-dunk first-rounder pre-incident.

In speaking Friday to K-State media, Johnson called the opportunity to face his former team and basketball family "amazing," while holding no animosity toward the program that would not clear him medically to return. It was a decision Johnson and his family understood, but nonetheless cut deeply, given his affinity for everything Florida.

"It was very tough, but they just had to what was best for them medically and what they felt was safe for me," Johnson said. "There is no ill will or hate for them. I'm still a Gator for life."

More importantly, with a life.

**Keyontae Johnson** (11), the Kansas State Wildcat in '22-23.

And now, to paraphrase that classic line from "Casablanca," of all the gym joints and all the towns in the college hoops world, the Gators will walk into his.

"Everything he's been through shows how strong of a man he is and how much fight he has," said Colin Castleton, the UF 6-foot-11 forward who got to play just over three games alongside Johnson for what, certainly in hindsight, would have been one of the program's best teams of the post-Billy Donovan era. "He pushed through it all, came with a great attitude every day and is really just super-human in everybody's eyes. It's going to be awesome to see him play. Everyone in his locker room is happy for him."

They also want to beat him, and they told Johnson so when he FaceTimed with some of his former teammates Thursday. Castleton, reserves Jason Jitoboh and Niels Lane, plus walk-ons Alex Klatsky and Jack May, are the lone leftovers (no coaches) that were on the 2020-21 UF team that witnessed Johnson's ordeal up close.

"It's a big night for Key, obviously, and it's going to be emotional for us," Jitoboh said. "We're still going to go there and try get the dub and contain him as much as possible."

Added Lane, with a smile: "We made it very clear that we're going to make it hard on him. He's not getting anything for free this game. It's definitely going to be fun competing against him, because he's such great player."

And friend, let's not forget that part. Coach Todd Golden certainly has not. Golden by way of the University of San Francisco, arrived in Gainesville late last March and only briefly got to know Johnson, who was finishing up classes in time for spring graduation all the while contemplating — along with his family — whether to continue playing or take a $5.2 million insurance policy to walk away from the game he loved. Playing at Florida, Golden learned right away, was not an option, as determined by UF physicians.

**Keyontae Johnson** (11) during his first-team All-SEC season of 2019-20.

On Friday, Golden spoke of being sympathetic to a delicate situation, but told his players Johnson is going to want to be at his best and deserves as much from his former teammates.

"We have to be mature enough about it that when we get between the lines we treat him like a player on any other team that we face. Easier said than done, but again, we can't control the variables" said Golden, whose team has won five of the previous six, but starts a barbaric four-game stretch (three on the road) that includes dates against three teams ranked in the Associated Press top five. "This situation is in front of us and we have to give it everything we can, attack it and honor him by respecting him at a high level and competing as best we can against him."

Just think about where the Gators were, as a program, just over two years ago; when Golden was in his second season as head coach at USF and Mike White was in Year 6 at Florida and armed with one of the most talented teams of his tenure. But Johnson, Castleton and 2021 NBA first-round pick Tre Mann (not to mention Scottie Lewis, Tyree Appleby, Anthony Duruji and Noah Locke) only got to play three games together before Johnson's collapse shook White's program to its core.

Then-UF coach **Mike White** tries to comfort his players in the moments after **Keyontae Johnson's** collapse at Tallahassee on Dec. 12, 2020.

Players cried on the floor of the Tucker Center as a guardian angel cardiac specialist — who just happened to be sitting courtside — and paramedics tended to their teammate. Johnson remained in a coma in Tallahassee and eventually was airlifted to UF Health in Gainesville, where he came to a few days later. By then, White had signed off on canceling the team's next four games, still worried about the players' collective psyche.

"We weren't thinking about whether or not he was going to play basketball again," Jitoboh said. "We were wondering whether or not he was going to live."

Then came a team meeting in the practice gym just before Christmas break. Werner gathered the players close then held up his cell phone. There was Johnson, eager to talk to his guys. And vice versa.

"My heart just dropped," Lane said. "I was so happy."

"It was not only a great moment for Keyontae, but it was a great moment of healing for everyone who was there," Werner said. "I'll be honest, I didn't know how they were going to get out of it, emotionally, but when he talked to the team I just looked around at their faces and the body language and saw an incredible sense of relief. That's what I remember most. None of us knew then how it was going to turn out, but seeing his face and their faces … that's a moment I will never forget."

Safe to say there will be another one (at least) Saturday night. Not many could have envisioned that the worlds of both Johnson and the Gators randomly would collide more than a thousand miles away in the Sunflower State.

"Basketball is all he's ever wanted to do. He loves it," Castleton said. "He's genuinely happy. He's loving it, he's smiling. That's all I care about it."