USC Basketball: What We Can Learn About Cardiac Arrest Recovery From A Bronny James Teammate

USC's star freshman is recovering after a Monday scare.

Sophomore USC center Vincent Iwuchukwu and freshman USC combo guard Bronny James suddenly have a lot more to talk about, in a morbid sort of way.

Bronny James suffered a major health scare Monday, after undergoing cardiac arrest in a Galen Center workout that required an internment at an ICU. Happily, James stabilized and was released.

This sadly marks the second time in two summers that a top-level new USC player has suffered a cardiac arrest during a July offseason practice. Iwuchukwu, a five-star recruit out of Southern California Academy in Castaic, had the same problem on July 1st, 2022. Per Jordan Greer of Sporting News, the 7'1", 235-pound big man struggled to secure a rebound, normally a pretty routine practice for him. 

USC later released a video detailing his recuperation.

"[I] sat down, and I just got, like, super dizzy out of nowhere. ... I was about to drink my water, and I was like, 'Bro, I'm so dizzy,'" Iwuchukwu said in the video. "And bam. That's all I remembered."

Iwuchukwu collapsed in front of USC assistant coach Eric Mobley and trainers Jon Yonamine, Erin Tillman and Lauren Crawford. The trio used an automated external defibrillator on Iwuchukwu's chest and gave him CPR.

"I started hearing coach Mobley's voice, like, 'Get up, Vince! Get up, Vince! Don't die on me!'" Iwuchukwu reflected. "In my head, I was like, 'Don't die on me? What does he mean don't die?' So I'm like, 'I gotta get up.'"

After Iwuchukwu woke up, he was hospitalized for several days, but a root cause was never found. Doctors later placed an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) in his chest to regulate his heart rate.

“They really do an amazing job, not only keeping our players healthy, but when something happens, they do therapy, and when something serious happens like in Vince’s case, they’re ready to respond immediately,” USC head coach Andy Enfield said earlier this year, per Eric Levenson and David Close of CNN.

Iwuchukwu eventually made his Trojans debut on January 12th, during a 68-61 victory over Colorado. Across a scant 13.9 minutes per, he averaged 5.4 points on 50.9% shooting from the floor (79.3% from the charity stripe), 2.5 rebounds per contest, and 1.0 blocks a night.