University Of Nebraska Basketball Player Deng Mayar Drowns

COLLEGE BASKETBALL: NOV 07 North Dakota at Iowa

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As college students head back to campus for the fall semester, and student-athletes are getting back into the swing of early morning practices, those at the University of Nebraska will have an even tougher adjustment. A member of the Midwestern school’s basketball team, Deng Mayar, drowned while swimming this past weekend at Blackridge Reservoir in Utah with a friend. Fox 13 Salt Lake City reported that it occurred Saturday when 21-year-old Sa Mafutaga was having a hard time in the water and decided to swim back to shore. But when he turned around, he saw Mayar struggling, so he turned back to help, but was unable to. That’s when bystanders witnessed the scene and jumped in to pull Mafutaga out before he was transported to the hospital, where he’s expected to have a full recovery. “It was scary. We saw the police running past us with a stretcher, and there was a person on there who was really pale and wasn’t moving,” recalled neighbor and witness Hudsyn Sandoval. As for Mayar, attempts to rescue him proved more difficult and lasted into the night despite being only about 35 yards away from shore. Fox reported that a robot located his body around 10:40 p.m., and a dive team found his body about 20 minutes later, declaring him dead at the scene.

The 22-year-old had two seasons of basketball at the University of North Dakota under his belt, and this season was scheduled to be his first at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Both schools expressed their sorrow in losing a member of their basketball family and a member of the university’s community. “Our hearts are broken to hear the tragic news of Deng’s passing,” UND’s head men’s basketball coach Paul Sather said in a release. “He was a wonderful person with a heart the size of a gym. Our thoughts are with his parents and family, along with all his teammates from UND and UNO. As competitive as he was on the court, he had a gentle nature and kind soul off the court. Deng will be greatly missed by all of those that knew and loved him.”

Omaha Coach Chris Crutchfield also commented in a statement: “After competing against him for two years, we were elated to add him to our team and he made tremendous progress this summer. Deng was a joy to be around and made our culture better. We will miss him greatly. Jodi and I, along with our entire program, send our hearts and prayers to Deng’s family, friends and teammates.” See social media’s reaction to Mayar’s death below.