Junior Aalok Modi collapsed and died Thursday night. He was 21.
Modi collapsed around 9:45 p.m. during an intramural basketball game in Wilson Recreation Center and was taken to Duke University Hospital emergency room. He died at about 11 p.m.
At the hospital shortly after midnight, Modi's friends and acquaintances came to pay respects.
Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta, who was at the hospital, said the cause of death was not yet known and that there was no obvious reason for the collapse.
Junior Xiaoyu Wang, a member of Modi's basketball team, said in a telephone interview that he had just subbed into the game for Modi when the incident happened.
"I high-fived him when he was getting off the court, and I looked in his eyes, and he was panting a little, but that's normal in an IM game," Wang said. "We kept playing, and we didn't think anything of it. It was not more than two or three seconds when we were down the court, and I think someone shouted or someone blew a whistle and we all ran over. As soon as he got out of the game he basically collapsed. He was on the ground, and he was having [what seemed] like a seizure."
Modi had played the first half of the game without any indications of trouble.
Wang said a bystander attended to Modi until professionals arrived. He added that Duke University Police Department, Duke Emergency Medical Services and professional EMS all responded.
Modi was a chemistry major and premedical student from Pickerington, Ohio, according to his Facebook profile.
Moneta said the University had notified Modi's parents and was preparing a response plan with Modi's friends. Staff from Counseling and Psychological Services will be on call to assist students with grief, and plans for commemoration will be worked out in a few days, he said.
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