Nebraska coach leaves Big Ten tourney loss with ‘common cold’

University of Nebraska Basketball Coach Fred Hoiberg was taken to a hospital for evaluation after he left Wednesday night’s 89-64 loss to Indiana University in the Big Ten Conference Tournament due to what was diagnosed as a cold.

Hoiberg was in visible discomfort on the Cornhuskers’ bench. Doc Sadler took over after Hoiberg left the floor in the second half.

Nebraska did not make any players or coaches available to the media after the loss. The school announced Hoiberg was checked by medical personnel before the game, and then became ill later. He was taken a hospital, where he was diagnosed with a common cold and then released, according to the school.

The Big Ten is closing the rest of the tournament to fans over fears of exposure to the coronavirus.

The 11th-seeded Hoosiers (20-12) will play sixth-seeded Penn State (21-10) in the second round Thursday night. Indiana split its two meetings with the Nittany Lions.

“I would say it would be a heck of an environment in here, but it’s going to be more like a closed scrimmage, which is unfortunate,” Indiana coach Archie Miller said. “We’ll be ready to go. Penn State has had a heck of a season and heck of a team, so we got a heck of a challenge.”

Miller chose to send his players back to the hotel instead of to interview room after hearing the news about the NBA suspending its season over concerns about the spread of coronavirus.

“I think, once you start getting the news that we got after the game, 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,” he said. “They’re not going to have a whole lot of answers about what’s going on anyway.”