Utah State basketball player getting better

Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY

A Utah State basketball player who collapsed at practice and had to be revived after he stopped breathing is improving and making good progress, school officials said Wednesday night, although the player remains in critical condition.

Danny Berger is awake and talking to his family in a Salt Lake City area hospital, Utah State basketball team doctor Trek Lyons said at a press conference in Logan. Tubes used to help Berger breathe have been removed.

“He recognizes his family, his doctors and the instructions he is given,” Lyons said. “It is a good sign and a sign of improving.”

Doctors still don’t know what caused the 22-year-old Berger to collapse on the court during a practice Tuesday in Logan.

Berger doesn’t have any known pre-existing condition or heart problems, Lyons said.

“As a well-conditioned athlete, he goes through a stress test every day,” Lyons said. “It just reminds us that some things are still unpredictable.”

A team of doctors — including cardiologists, pulmonologists and trauma specialists — is running tests on Berger in the intensive care unit at Intermountain Medical Center in a Salt Lake City suburb, said hospital spokesman Jess Gomez.

Berger is responding the way “doctors want him to,” older brother John Berger said Wednesday.

“As of right now, things are looking good,” John Berger said in a statement he read to reporters.