West Virginia’s Akok Akok was transported to a nearby hospital after he collapsed early on in the second half of WVU’s 85-78 exhibition win over George Mason.
Akok was stretchered off the floor, and then Eilert updated Akok’s situation following the game.
“Found out good news. He’s stable, he’s responsive. He wanted to make sure he congratulated his teammates and he’s in a good place right now. They’re probably going to be holding him overnight and do a lot of testing,” West Virginia interim head coach Josh Eilert said. “Never thought I’d have to deal with a situation like that and it’s heartbreaking, but I’m glad he’s still here with us.”
Eilert was in just his second game as WVU’s interim coach, saying there is no playbook for this type of incident. Eilert added he along with George Mason head coach Tony Skinn talked about whether to resume the game, saying his team wanted to continue to play.
“There was a discussion and Tony and I talked and he left it up to me. I made sure the guys were in a good head space, a good enough head space to continue the game. That’s important and they wanted to play, so we decided it’s best to move on and try to turn the page and get out there and warm up and get after them.”
“It’s fortunate Akok’s doing good and it’s one of those things that gives perspective to what’s going on here. It’s a basketball game, but these are human lives,” Eilert added. “And these kids we get really close to and it was tough for everybody but in life we move on. I hate to say it like that but he’s good and in a good place and the guys wanted to continue to play, so we continued to play.”
West Virginia forward Quinn Slazinski said Akok was texting the players after the game and that all is well with him.
“We’re super proud of him sticking with us. He’s texting us congratulations, good job on the win. Everything should be good. Just really a freak accident, we’re just happing everything’s okay,” Slazinski said. “Akok is all is well.”
