RALEIGH — With less than a minute to go in No. 1 seed Virginia’s 81-45 dismantling of No. 16-seed Hampton, UVa coach Tony Bennett collapsed on the sideline.
As he talked to London Perrantes, Bennett felt faint and tried to blink away the fuzzy feeling creeping in. He staggered back into a crouch and then landed on the ground as play stopped ahead of a free throw attempt.
His assistants and players swarmed him, trying to give whatever aid they could to the coach.
He needed room, and the assistants and team doctors firmly formed a protective ring around him, pushing the players into their own huddle with assistant coach Ron Sanchez a few feet away.
But senior Anthony Gill didn’t join the group.
While Bennett, who later attributed the collapse to “feeling under the weather” for a couple days and dehydration, sat on a short bench surrounded by the team doctors, Gill stepped behind his coach.
The High Point native reached out and laid a hand on his coach for a few seconds, bowing his head.
Beautiful moment and says so much about this young man #AnthonyGill #13 saying a prayer for #CoachBennett #UVA pic.twitter.com/N6hqzfEQu2
— mommaof3 (@SWakeOrganzing) March 17, 2016
“I didn’t know what was going on,” said Gill, who finished with a game-high 19 points and four assists. “And I was praying just to make sure he was okay.
“It worked. I healed him.”
Bennett left the court for the locker room a few seconds before the end of the half.
He returned in the second half and grew stronger as the game went on but was still largely restricted to coaching from his seat.
“They told me to sit there and drink Powerade,” Bennett said. “Thankfully the game wasn’t close in the second half. Usually you like to be kind of active and involved. I guess it shows you that coaching is overrated. I don’t think they know it’s overrated. You can sit on your hands and they wouldn’t notice if you’re active. That’s just for coaches to feel good, I think.”
Afterwards, Bennett laughed sheepishly as he explained what doctors termed a, ‘vasovagal response.’
“Being a little under the weather, I’m sure that’s all it was. I don’t think it’s anything too serious, a little more embarassing than anything else. It is what it is. I’m sure I’ll get teased about it, but we’ll move on.”
And — for all those not watching Virginia basketball, but concerned that a Tony Bennett had a health scare, singer Tony Bennett, the original Tony Bennett, is fine.
I wanted to let all my fans know that Im ok. Glad to hear UVA coach Tony Bennett is fine after his fall. Congrats @UVAMensHoops on the win!
— Tony Bennett (@itstonybennett) March 17, 2016