NORFOLK, VA (WTKR)- Just four days after collapsing during Old Dominion's win at Georgia Southern, Imo Essien returned to practice on Tuesday, providing a spark to his Monarch teammates.
It's been a whirlwind since Saturday for the sophomore guard, who said he did not really process what happened until he was lying in his bed after returning from the game.
"Replaying it," Essien said Tuesday. "This doesn't happen, especially for someone like me. I've been playing basketball all my life."
Essien went down in the first half of Saturday's contest at Georgia Southern. The sophomore described it as feeling like he was trying to breathe through a straw.
"It was very hard to breathe," he recalled. "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."
"It was scary as hell," added head coach Jeff Jones. "Particularly in light of the (Damar) Hamlin situation happening so recently, I think the worst kind of flashed through everybody's minds."
The parallels between Hamlin and Essien could be characterized as incredible. Both wear the same number, three, both share a birthday on March 24 and their individual incidents were separated by less than a week. The ODU sophomore described it as the scariest moment of his life.
"Fortunately for me, my brothers had my back, my coaching staff has me, my parents were there so I was very comfortable after the situation," he recalled. "A lot of emotions running through a lot of people."
"Basically said we've got to stick together," Monarch junior guard Mekhi Long said of the team's response. "Our strength would come in with each other so we've got to be strong for Imo. We've got to do that by sticking together to win this game for him."
Old Dominion head athletic trainer Jason Mitchell, along with other medical staff, helped Essien's breathing return to normal and he eventually would rejoin his team on the bench during the second half of Saturday's game. Tuesday saw another spark, as the guard went through drills during practice. He's prohibited from doing any live basketball action for the time being, instead playing a game of wait and see. Medical professionals have not been able to pinpoint a cause for Saturday's collapse and the sophomore guard visited with a cardiologist on Monday.
"I'm waiting until the cardiologist, the pulmonologist and whoever the heck else it is... if they all give the thumbs up then that's great," Jones said. "If they want to wait, then we wait."
"I'm jealous of these guys," Essien smile. "These guys get to go out there and play ball. They get to play and compete against somebody else and I wish I could be doing that, but at the same time I understand what just happened. I understand the seriousness of a situation."
It's a situation that is trending in the right direction, but one everybody involved hopes is well in the rearview mirror and will never present itself again. As for Essien, sooner or later, he'll be running up and down the court in game action once again.
"Obviously we had Imo in our minds, trying to coach a game and trying to comfort the players all at one time," Jones said. "That was something that I hope I never have to deal with again."
"I feel like I'm just like these guys, so why me?," added the guard. "You get those type of questions, but at the end of the day I trust God and my family and my teammates and I know that this will all pass and I'll be back on that court."
A guard from Wylie, Texas, Essien has started 15 of ODU's 16 games this season, averaging 5.4 points per game. His 29.4 minutes per contest rank fourth on the Monarchs, up significantly from last season's 7.1 minutes per outing.
Essien is currently being held out of games until further notice. The Monarchs return to action when they host Coastal Carolina on Thursday at 7:00 PM.
