Basketball Official passes out during the Gonzaga-USC game on Tuesday

The opening minutes of Tuesday’s Elite Eight showdown between the USC Trojans and Gonzaga Bulldogs were overshadowed by a scary incident involving a referee.

from www.yardbarker.com:
Zac Wassink from YardBarker.com

Roughly four-and-a-half minutes into the contest, veteran Bert Smith collapsed and hit the back of his head hard on the court.

Per Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports, Gonzaga assistant Tommy Lloyd and others quickly ran to attend to Smith, who remained on the ground for several minutes before he was stretchered off the court.

The good news is that Smith was sitting up and seemed to be communicating as he was taken into the locker room for further evaluations:

As Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated noted, TBS was later able to confirm Smith’s condition was stable:
Ross Dellenger
@RossDellenger
TBS says official Bert Smith was feeling light-headed while on the court and he’s now being tended to trainers in the locker room. His condition is stable.

A replacement official filled in for Smith following a timeout.