INDIANAPOLIS -- IUPUI basketball player Maushae Byles doesn't know the woman with whom he's about to share his bone marrow, but he knows enough to be willing to skip part of his senior season for her.

Byles, a fifth-year senior and starting guard, will donate his bone marrow at the end of this month, hoping to extend the life of a stranger in Minnesota.

"If I can be the person that can save (her), then I'd like to do it," Byles told RTV6's Jake Query.

Byles was told that a Minnesota woman is dying and that his bone marrow can save her. He doesn't know her name, age or ailment.

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Video: IUPUI Guard Explains Decision

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Byles was identified as a match after he donated blood two years ago.

"She went through (her) whole family and no one in the family matched. My name came up and I was a match, so I ... agreed to the terms to do a bone marrow transplant," Byles said.

Ron Hunter, head coach of IUPUI's men's basketball team, said he backed Byles' decision.

"We don't want to interrupt this at all ... and if Maushae is willing and his family said that it's OK, then I think it's just tremendous," Hunter said.

IUPUI's first exhibition game is Saturday, and its regular season begins Nov. 18. Byles doesn't know when he'll be able to return to the team after the bone marrow procedure, but he said basketball is secondary in this circumstance.

"This may be one of my things from God to do," Byles said. "God might have put me here to save somebody's life, so I feel it's a good thing to do."

Byles said he plans to meet the woman after both recover from the procedure. He said he'd also like to have her come to an IUPUI game.