RALEIGH, N.C. -- Virginia coach Tony Bennett suffered from dehydration, which caused him to collapse near the end of the team's first-round NCAA tournament game Thursday against Hampton.
Bennett returned to the sideline in the second half. The top-seeded Cavaliers won the game, 81-45.
"[I've] been a little under the weather the last couple of days," Bennett said after the game. "When you're squatting and get up quick, I just blacked out a little bit. I've had more Powerade than I've ever had in my life, so hopefully I'm hydrated well. That's happened before, when you get up quick and get a little dizzy."
Bennett was giving instructions to guard London Perrantes when he appeared to started blinking fast and fell to the floor by the edge of the scorer's table. Bennett extended his hand to stop his fall, but he sat on the ground. He was immediately surrounded by the team's trainers.
Play was stopped with 34.1 seconds left in the first half. Bennett was helped to his feet and sat on the bench before being ushered to the locker room with five seconds remaining in the half.
Bennett said he was told to sit by the trainers in the second half.
"They just told me to sit there and drink the Powerade," he said. "Thankfully the game wasn't close in the second half. Usually you like to be kind of active and involved, but I guess it shows you that coaching is overrated, 'cause I don't think they knew I was over there. You can sit over there on your hands and they wouldn't notice if you're active. That's just for coaches to feel good.
"It's more embarrassing than anything, to be honest. I'm sure I'll get teased a lot about it, but we'll move on."
Famed singer Tony Bennett was happy to hear the Virginia coach with the same name was OK -- and made sure his fans weren't confused by any headlines.
I wanted to let all my fans know that Im ok. Glad to hear UVA coach Tony Bennett is fine after his fall. Congrats @UVAMensHoops on the win!
— Tony Bennett (@itstonybennett) March 17, 2016