There’s never a good time to get mono. But if you’re a college basketball player, getting mono before Gus Johnson is going to call one of your games is a particularly bad time.
Because as we learned during Saturday’s game between Illinois and Duke, Johnson will do a deep dive.
Illinois center Tomislav Ivišić attempted a fadeaway jumper in the first half, finding nothing but air. Johnson then listed a few issues that have plagued Ivišić this season.
“He’s been struggling with his health,” Johnson said. “Flu, mono and an ankle injury.”
Color analyst Jim Jackson focused on Ivišić’s poor shot selection, criticizing the 7-foot-1 center for trying a fadeaway jumper instead of something that exploited his significant size advantage over the man guarding him, Duke’s 6-foot-5 guard, Tyrese Proctor. But as Jackson soon realized, Johnson had something else on his mind.
“Why you laughing? You got a smile on your face,” Jackson said.
“Because, how do you get mono in college?” Johnson replied. “What do you do to get that?”
“Inquiring minds want to say ‘hmmmmm,'” Jackson said.
“In college,” Jackson continued.
“Yeah, exactly,” Johnson said, laughing.
Jackson then offered some words of wisdom.
“See listen, you gotta watch what you drink your drink out of in cups,” he said. “You gotta watch it.”