When Virginia guard Kyle Guy crumpled to the floor Saturday against Notre Dame, the John Paul Jones Arena fell silent. No one even mustered a collective gasp really. Just the sound of silence.
Fear already gripped Guy as he grabbed his left knee. The eerie quiet only heightened it.
”It was more scary that the entire crowd just went completely silent,” Guy said. ”You could hear a pin drop. So that scared me more. I didn’t hear it pop, but I felt it stretch more than it should have. Anything that has to do with a knee on a basketball court is nothing to play with so yeah I was scared.”
Virginia’s athletic training staff led by Ethan Saliba gave Guy the OK to return after an examination immediately after the injury and again at halftime. He did return to action in the second half with a brace around his knee. Further examination since the game revealed nothing major for the sophomore guard.
In fact, Guy said he should be OK to play in the ACC Tournament this week. UVA faces the Florida State-Louisville on Thursday in Brooklyn at noon. Guy earned first-team All-ACC recognition after he averaged a team-leading 13.9 points with 42 assists and 30 steals.
”Sprained MCL so thankfully it’s nothing more,” Guy said. ”I should be fine on Thursday. I practiced a little bit [Monday] and it’s a little sore, but I’ll be fine.”
Cavalier coach Tony Bennett said that he didn’t see what happened live, but that your immediate thought as a coach is that you hope it isn’t serious. Guy collided knees with Notre Dame’s Martinas Geben and the size difference – Geben is a 6’10”, 252-pound senior compared to the 6’2”, 175-pound sophomore – Guy said caused his knee to buckle a little bit.
”When it happened in front of me, I was concerned,” Bennett said. ”I didn’t see it but whenever you see someone go down and grab their knee like that, the first thing you think of is ‘I hope their ACL is OK.’ They checked him at halftime and then I got the OK that he could play. He had a brace on and I’m sure he was a little sore so it was a concern, but once he was able to go on the floor and you could see him moving, I think it made everybody feel better.”
UVA did not practice Sunday and returned for a shorter session Monday. Guy said he did go through some drills in practice Monday and he’s going through regular treatment to work on the injury. He’s also been dealing with a bulging disc in his back throughout the season.
”We took [Sunday] off and [Monday] we did some stuff, nothing too hard, and he seemed to be better and feeling good,” Bennett said.
