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ODU guard Imo Essien health update

The Monarch point guard, who collapsed during Saturday's game vs Georgia Southern, was in good spirits at practice Tuesday

NORFOLK, Va. — "It just felt like it was hard to breath, like I was breathing through a straw. With this being a sensitive topic for me it's hard to replay, but that's the truth, it was very hard to breath. I felt like I couldn't catch my wind. At the end, right before I went down, it just felt like all my wind was gone, like I got hit in the stomach. I had nothing else in me." Imo Essien talked reporters through what he was feeling as he collapsed to the court, untouched, during Old Dominion's game at Georgia Southern. 

Essien was immediately attended to by the ODU training staff, he never lost consciousness, and eventually headed to the locker room. 

"The easiest way to say it, it was scary as hell," said Coach Jeff Jones. Mekhi Long was on the court when Essien went down, "It was traumatizing, knowing what's going on with past people falling out, Damar Hamlin, and somebody in our own backyard Keyontae Johnson a year ago. All the emotions ran through our head." 

As Long mentioned, the timing of Essien's collapse will likely draw comparisons to Buffalo Bill Damar Hamlin's medical situation. At this stage, we do not know if there are any medical similarities with the two instances, but simply as a scary in game incident, Hamlin's situation comes to mind. Essien also wears number 3, like Hamlin. It's the next anecdote, however, that meanders into the surreal. 

"Actually our birthdays are both March 24th as well," says Essein, reflecting on an astounding coincidence. 

Coach Jeff Jones said that Essien underwent a "battery of tests" Monday and that "nothing is out of place at this point." More tests are to come for Essien, who participated in practice drills Tuesday but is not yet cleared for live basketball. 

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