Old Dominion basketball player returns to practice after collapse: ‘It was very hard to breathe’

Old Dominion University men’s basketball player Imo Essien returned to practice a few days after he collapsed on the court in a game against Georgia Southern.

Essien was back at practice and told WTKR-TV he did not really process the entirety of what happened until he returned home from the game.

The incident occurred with about 13:13 left in the first half. The Old Dominion sophomore guard was on the defensive side of the ball when he fell onto his backside on the court. Essien struggled to get back to his feet and started to lay down on his back appearing to be in pain.

Medical personnel for Old Dominion rushed over to attend to Essien. He did not appear to lose consciousness and was helped to his feet and walked off the court with the trainers.

“Replaying it,” he told the station. “This doesn’t happen, especially for someone like me. I’ve been playing basketball all my life.”

Essien recalled he struggled to breathe and felt like he needed to catch his breath.

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“It was very hard to breathe,” he added. “I felt like I couldn’t catch my wind and at the end there, right before I went down, it just felt like all my wind was gone.”

Old Dominion coach Jeff Jones called the situation “scary as hell.”

“Particularly in light of the (Damar) Hamlin situation happening so recently, I think the worst kind of flashed through everybody’s minds,” he said.

Essien joined the Monarchs before the start of the 2021-2022 season and averaged about 7.1 minutes per game. His minutes increased this season to 29.4 per game and his scoring average jumped from 1.2 to 5.4 points per game.

The Wylie, Texas, native was a high school standout who was a two-time All-State selection and scored 1,000 points in his career.

Old Dominion won the game, 81-75, in overtime.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.