Blair Green ready to see the game through different lens post-Achilles injury

On3 imageby:Zack Geoghegan10/07/22

ZGeogheganKSR

When Blair Green puts on that Kentucky jersey and steps onto the Memorial Coliseum floor in under a month, it’ll be the first time she’s done so in almost exactly one year.

Now a fifth-year graduate student with the Wildcats women’s basketball team, Green sat out the entire 2021-22 season with a ruptured Achilles. The 6-foot-2 guard suffered the injury prior to the beginning of the regular season during a closed scrimmage against Eastern Kentucky. Green was able to return for an additional year of eligibility though, and she’s back for the 2022-23 season at full health.

Only this time around, she’ll bring a coaching background to the hardwood.

Bound to the bench with crutches under both arms and a giant boot on her foot, Green had no choice but to sit and watch (and rehab) as last season unfolded. She was there for the poor 9-11 start to the schedule and there for the unprecedented turnaround that resulted in an SEC Championship. Green didn’t gain any on-court experience during that run, but she learned plenty about the game of basketball from afar.

“Blair, I think she learned a lot last year by sitting out,” Kentucky WBB head coach Kyra Elzy said earlier this week during Media Day. “It was a blessing in disguise for her. She was able to work with Coach (Gail Goestenkors) doing the scouting reports. She talked our team through personnel but she also was able to see the game through a different lens. She’s already tough, now her mentality is that she just wants to win and she has a confidence in herself right now.”

Photo by Eddie Justice | UK Athletics

Blair Green quickly became known as “Coach Green” during her recovery period, which was actually a quicker process than she expected. The ability to still impact the team every single day without grabbing rebounds or knocking down shots kept her mind from focusing on the injury. Knowing that she would one day make it back onto the floor with her teammates was just another reason to keep pushing.

“There was definitely moments in there that were hard but I’m a pretty driven person and every day I try to attack it. Honestly, I was probably trying to do more than I was supposed to do every day and they had to kinda pull me back a little bit,” Green said during Media Day. “But I’m like I just want to get back and honestly I got back quicker than I was supposed to.

“I just had that goal in mind of when I wanted to be back. I just grinded through it and it was tough but I remained positive and just try to look at how I’m improving every day and just trying to get better every day. I kept my mind on the positives. It really wasn’t as rough as it was because I was looking toward the future and the end goal, and that just kept me motivated.”

“So happy to have Blair Green back,” Elzy said. “She has worked extremely hard. We actually have to kick her out of the gym and we have to remind her that an off day, is actually an off day. Get out of the gym. But she’s worked extremely hard and she’s a great asset to us.”

Green is one of just five returning Wildcats on a roster that goes 15 players deep this season. Not only does she bring plenty of veteran experience and leadership, but as Elzy mentioned, she’s going to be a great asset on the court.

During her true junior season in 2019-20, Green, who is originally from Harlan (KY), was a steady contributor for the ‘Cats. She started 18 of the 27 games she appeared in, averaging 6.0 points per game while shooting 44.1 percent from the floor and 33.3 percent from distance. Expectations were relatively high coming into last season prior to the Achilles injury. In what will be her college career swan song, she’ll be relied upon plenty to put up points and lead her team.

“Her ability to shoot the basketball,” Elzy said of what Green brings to the table. “I called her a sniper — this is how competitive they are — I called her a sniper in practice and another was like ‘how do we get that label?’ and I was like, ‘shoot like Blair’. But also, her veteran experience. She brings that to us. She understands what we need and want in this program and she makes us different on the floor.”

“She’s actually been pretty good, I gotta say,” Kentucky WBB 5th-year senior Robyn Benton said on Media Day of Green’s recovery. “She still hits her open shots. Two days ago — you can ask her — (Elzy) was like, hey when you drive in — she was telling one of the freshmen — when you drive in, you kick that ball out to Blair Green. Blair Green is a sniper. She still is. Seeing Blair come back from that Achilles (injury), it’s just real motivating for everybody.”

Green is all the way back for Kentucky WBB, but that doesn’t mean there still isn’t work to be done. Taking a year off from basketball — a game she’s played nearly every day since she was a child — is always going to require a ramp-up period. But Green was adamant that she’s never worked harder than she has during the offseason, even if it wasn’t always fun or easy.

“I keep trying to remind myself, Blair, you’ve been out for a year, the pace, the playing through fatigue, I haven’t been through that in a year.

Discuss This Article

Comments have moved.

Join the conversation and talk about this article and all things Kentucky Sports in the new KSR Message Board.

KSBoard

2024-03-28