Basketball took a backseat in Indianapolis on Wednesday night.
With the coronavirus reaching global pandemic status, and the NBA suspending its season, many were concerned that the affliction was playing out on the court at the Big Ten Tournament.
Nebraska head coach Fred Hoiberg was too ill to finish his team’s first round game against Indiana at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The Husker head coach was shown during the game on the Big Ten Network with his head down resting against his hand in the second half of the 89-64 IU win. Hoiberg was unable to finish the game and was sent to the hospital.
There is good news, however, as it was determined that Hoiberg does not have the coronavirus. The Nebraska basketball team issued a statement about Hoiberg’s condition.
“Before tonight’s Nebraska-Indiana men’s basketball game in the Big Ten Conference Tournament, Nebraska Head Coach Fred Hoiberg was checked by medical personnel,” the statement read. “Hoiberg became ill as the game progressed and left the bench area late in the second half for precautionary reasons. Hoiberg was subsequently transported to Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital in Indianapolis for further evaluation. Hoiberg was diagnosed with influenza A (common cold). He has since been released and has returned to the team hotel.”
No Nebraska coaches or players participated in postgame interviews, and the team was quarantined at the arena before being allowed to leave at around 11:45 p.m. ET.
Indiana head coach Archie Miller met with the media after the game, but no IU players joined him.
Miller spoke about why he was not accompanied by any members of his team.
“I decided to basically just move those guys as fast as we possibly can to get cleaned up after the game and get to the hotel as fast as possible,” Miller said. “I think, once you start getting the news that we got after the game (about the NBA and Hoiberg), I think right now for our players, it’s let’s get cleaned up, let’s get out of here, and let’s get back to the hotel where we can keep our group kind of tight and move forward with tomorrow.
“They’re not going to have a whole lot of answers about what’s going on anyway. Nothing strategic there or anything other than the fact that, hey, let’s get these guys moving on their way, and I’ll take care of the press conference.”
Indiana has a game scheduled with Penn State at 9 p.m. ET on Thursday night.
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