A week ago, Corban Collins thought he was coming home to escape the dire effects of the worldwide coronavirus outbreak that had already halted life across much of Europe and Asia.

Instead, the former Alabama basketball player in the middle of his third season playing professionally overseas, returned to a country in the beginning stages of facing the unsettling reality the global spread of COVID-19 has already had on the rest of the world, including the widespread suspension or outright cancellations of sports in America over the past few days.

Late last week, the NCAA canceled all spring championships and many individual conferences have followed suit, including the Southeastern Conference canceling all remaining regular-season competition across all sports for the remainder of the 2019-20 academic school year on Tuesday, including the all spring football games or postseason events such as the SEC baseball and softball tournaments. Last Thursday, the SEC canceled the final four days of its men's basketball tournament in Nashville roughly an hour before Collins' former team, Alabama, was set to play rival Tennessee to begin the second day of play inside Bridgestone Arena.

“I just feel for the student-athletes. They train and play so hard this time of year, especially men’s and women’s basketball (where) the end goal every year is March Madness, the NCAA Tournament. … That opportunity, that chance is something that kids work all year for. So, I just feel for them,” Collins told the Montgomery Advertiser by phone Monday from his family’s home in Greensboro, North Carolina. “It’s devastating just being an athlete knowing what type of impact sports has on the world, and for it to come to a halt like that, so suddenly, it was definitely a heartbreaking time, especially for the seniors who (thought) it was maybe their last time to play in the NCAA Tournament, represent their universities. And some of them aren’t going to pick up a ball after college. Like their career (might have) just abruptly ended.

“So, I feel for them, man. It’s tough just being an athlete and knowing how much they love doing what they do and how much they look forward to this time of year, and not being able to go through with it. (Last week) was an especially heartbreaking moment for sure.”

Collins, who averaged 7.0 and nearly 22 minutes per game as a graduate senior during Alabama's 2016-17 season, has already experienced some heartbreak of his own when Italy’s basketball federation postponed its season for a month last Monday during what has been a breakout year for him.

The 25-year-old point guard is averaging a team-leading 19.1 points per game for the Blu Basket Gruppo Remer in Treviglio — which is located in the northern Italian province of Bergamo in Lombardy, one of the most widely affected areas in Italy — and just came off a 28-point game against Bertram Tortona in which he sank nine 3-pointers on Feb. 16.

But one day after the Italian basketball league president suspended play March 9 with a tentative return-to-play date of April 3, Collins secured a 6 a.m. flight out of the Milan Malpensa Airport, the second busiest airport in Italy and one of the Top 20 largest airports in Europe, last Tuesday and has been in the States ever since. Not that it was especially difficult last week.

“I got through everything — check-in, security — within 10 minutes, there was literally nobody there and my flight was empty, everybody had a free row to themselves,” Collins said. “I got out just in time.”

Italy is the second-most affected country in the world behind China, where the outbreak is believed to have begun, and a full week into a government-mandated lockdown/quarantine intended to curb the spread of COVID-19. The coronavirus outbreak has already resulted in nearly 28,000 confirmed cases in Italy alone, including more than 2,100 deaths as of Tuesday afternoon after more than 350 people died Sunday, according to numbers reported by the country’s Civil Protection Department.

It’s because of his experience in Italy that Collins believes the same thing could happen in the U.S., especially if people don’t start taking extreme measures to halt the spread of what the World Health Organization declared a pandemic last Wednesday.

“I think people aren’t taking it serious enough, … especially my generation, just because we think we’re so invincible,” Collins said. “And I think the media did a bad job letting young people know that they (could still) cause serious harm if they did catch the virus.

“Their mindset is, ‘well I might have the virus but I’m not going to die from it so my life can go on — I’m just sick and I’ll get over it.’ But they just don’t understand that our generation, we don’t show signs or symptoms if we have it, therefore we’re the most prone to be passing and spreading the virus. So if we come in contact with the elderly, or we see our grandparents or come in contact with somebody that goes home and takes care of their elderly parents, that’s how the sickness spreads and the fatalities continue to increase. That’s how it happened in Italy.”

Now back safely in North Carolina, Collins is advising all his friends and family to self-quarantine and further help flatten the curve of the rising spread of the virus, which has surpassed 5,100 confirmed cases and more than 100 deaths in the United States as of Tuesday evening, according to CNN.

“I think us as Americans have to take this serious, even though we may not have it or we may be carriers with no symptoms, we have to take the right precautions so we can flatline the spread and get a handle of this,” Collins said. “We as Americans, each and every person has to take their own personal responsibility to do their part because that’s what we’re seeing in Italy. … Until Americans think like that, that I have to play my own personal part, it’s going to continue to spread until they have a mandatory lockdown, which is going to be terrible for us, especially for our economy.”

Although he has yet to show any symptoms of the illness, Collins has repeatedly tried to get tested for the coronavirus four separate times in the week since he’s been back in the States, but each time has been turned away.

“I contacted the CDC, I contacted the health department here (in North Carolina), I contacted the ER, and all them told me the same thing, ‘since I’m not symptomatic then I don’t qualify to get a test,’” Collins said. “Even though I came from Italy, even though I came from one of the red zones, they won’t test me unless I have any symptoms, and I don’t have any symptoms, so they won’t test me.”

Because of the potential harm to others, Collins has already started a self-quarantine and social distancing where he only leaves his house for necessities and the occasional workout with a trainer that has private access to a basketball gym in his hometown of Greensboro.

“Me not leaving the house here because now both my parents are working from home and I’m able to spend time with them, my nephew’s out of school so I’m able to make up on a lot of that family time that I missed because I was overseas,” Collins said. “But when I was overseas, … I was really probably homesick for the first time because basketball was why I was over there, and with that taken away from me, I had so much time that I was looking up all this stuff (about the coronavirus). … It was just a strange time. I’ve never experienced something like that in my athletic career where things changed so drastically in a snap of a finger.”

That could happen again soon for Collins as overseas basketball leagues are set to resume play in the coming weeks.

Italian Basketball Federation president Gianni Petrucci announced Monday that the Italian leagues will resume and finish their seasons once the coronavirus pandemic has been controlled, according to Sportando.

“Our intention is to resume play,” he told Italian newspaper Il Resto del Carlino. “We’ll listen to what the government says, but our plan is to complete the current season and we’re studying different formats.”

When that is has yet to be determined, but Collins expects his team could recall him at any point between now and April 3. But as long as the United States’ travel ban to Europe remains in effect, he won’t be able to return, which could trigger language in his contract with Blu Basket that would allow it to void his season-long deal and potentially cost him his final four months of pay.

“That causes you to analyze what’s really important,” Collins said. “Is my health and wellness and safety more important than the duration of my contract for this year? Am I willing to put my career in jeopardy to make sure I’m home and safe and around my loved ones during this tough time? … It really made me take a step back and look at the big picture and see how small this portion on my life is in basketball.”

For Collins, the ability to be around family during such uncertain times take precedence over any financial complications may arise from his inability to return to Italy.

“I’ll be transparent and say it has me a little stressed just because I know what type of work I’ve put in and how hard I’ve worked since my rookie year in Germany basically playing for nothing to now playing in one of the most respected international leagues,” Collins said. “It’s definitely something in the back of head (knowing) this could definitely play a big part in the remainder of my career, but then again, I had to put everything in perspective. … Just me being able to be back here and have a little bit of peace during this time (is worth it).”

Alex Byington is the Montgomery Advertiser's Alabama beat reporter. He can be reached by email at abyington@montgome.gannett.com or on Twitter at @_AlexByington.