Jayhawks send prayers to Keyontae Johnson, a good friend of KU’s David McCormack
The collapse of Florida forward Keyontae Johnson during Saturday’s Florida-Florida State men’s basketball game does put a “different perspective” on playing at this time, KU coach Bill Self said Tuesday.
“Of course first and foremost hearts and prayers go to him and his family and hopes for a speedy recovery,” Self said in prefacing any remarks on Johnson, who is a former (2017-18) Oak Hill Academy teammate of KU center David McCormack. McCormack is a longtime friend of Johnson, who like the KU junior power forward, is from Norfolk, Virginia.
“I do think if it is attributed to a prior case that he had with COVID, that’s got to be analyzed. I don’t know if that puts the brakes on everything, but certainly we’ve got to start pumping the brakes though, because there are things out there way more important than trying to go get games in, to make sure your players can compete and your school can maximize the very small financial numbers they can benefit from doing these things. Those things aren’t near as important, don’t even rate on an importance chart.”
Self stressed that he has no knowledge of what caused Johnson’s collapse. It’s not yet been confirmed that Johnson was one of the Florida players who had COVID-19 earlier this semester. He was in a medically induced coma but the school said Tuesday that Johnson’s condition was stable and he was breathing on his own and speaking with doctors at the hospital and teammates via FaceTime.
Johnson’s grandfather, Larry DeJarnett, told USA TODAY Sports he did not know whether Johnson ever suffered from the virus.
“I know that there was some of the times when some of the team was quarantined, yes. I don’t know if he was one of them or not,” DeJarnett said.
Self said: “We don’t really know yet based on what I’ve been told. I just hope like heck like everybody that he gets healthy and he is he back competing in a short period of time. Based on what I’ve been told — David McCormack was his teammate with AAU ball — basically what I’ve been told and what David has told me there’s still a lot of unknowns about it. I think he’s spoken with the family. The reports he has, they still don’t really know (what caused Johnson’s collapse).”
KU senior forward Mitch Lightfoot said he’s spoken with McCormack about the situation.
“Comforting him and making sure he knows we’re all here for him. He’s one of his better friends,” Lightfoot said.
“Obviously it’s a terrible situation. We’re trying to make sure we are there for him, for Keyontae, for anyone involved with it, they have our thoughts and have our prayers,” Lightfoot added.
Lightfoot was asked if this situation gives him any concern about continuing to play games during the pandemic.
“Personally I don’t know enough to speak on that stuff,” Lightfoot said. “From my personal opinion, I think everybody here is doing everything they possibly can to keep us safe. We’re doing everything we can to keep each other safe. If we continue to be committed to each other’s safety I think we’ll be OK.
“It’s a scary situation, but I’m not a doctor. I don’t know the extent of everything. At this point in time we’re just praying for him and hoping he can get back out there and recover,” Lightfoot added.
The No. 5-ranked Jayhawks (6-1) will open Big 12 play at No. 14-ranked Texas Tech (6-1) at 6 p.m. Thursday at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas. It’s the start of the annual 18-game league grind.
“I don’t think I ever thought we’d play 18. I think 14 or 15 would be a pretty good number,” Self said, noting there figure to be cancellations because of the pandemic. Already, Baylor’s game against Texas has been postponed.
“It’s unfortunate it happens,” Self added. “You’ve got the make-up week (Feb. 27-March 9) where maybe somebody can get a game or two that week if we have to. I just hope we can get as many in as possible. It’s not going to be anybody’s fault when we don’t. Obviously everybody will make their own respective decision on what’s best over the holidays, which could obviously play a factor coming back (from Christmas break) although you hope not. It’s just a crapshoot. We hope we get lucky and remain as negative (in COVID testing) as we possibly can. I know all coaches are hoping for the same thing.”
Self has said he will let his players head home for Christmas.
“We’ve only got really Mitch (Gilbert, Arizona) and David (Norfolk, Virginia) that are flying distances so to speak,” Self said. “Tristan (Enaruna, Netherlands) obviously will not go home. David has elected to stay here. If guys are traveling they are probably doing it by car. We’ve got so many local guys for the first time in forever (on roster). Being local doesn’t make it safer at all. The way it appears now is that guys will go home if they choose to do so and we’ll bring them back the 27th.”
KU plays West Virginia on Dec. 22 in Lawrence, then won’t play again until Jan. 2 at home versus Texas.
This story was originally published December 15, 2020 at 2:50 PM with the headline "Jayhawks send prayers to Keyontae Johnson, a good friend of KU’s David McCormack."
