Kevin Ware Interview VIDEO: Said He Didn’t Feel Pain, Just Shock After Gruesome Leg Injury
Louisville Cardinal Kevin Ware, who suffered a horrific leg injury on Sunday during the Elite 8 game against Duke, remembers the first time his team played against the Blue Devils this season.
In the season game against Duke in November, Louisville lost 76-71. Ware said in an exclusive interview with ESPN, "It was crazy [because] if you look back on the Duke game, I closed out on the same player, the same way, on the opposite side of the court and he made the shot. Me closing out on the same player the exact same way and the results that came about, you know it was shocking honestly."
He continued to say that he didn't feel pain, just shock, when he got the compound fracture on his lower leg. The break, deemed a freak accident, could have occurred because Ware already had stress fractures in his leg, according to ABC.
After he landed, Ware said he thought he rolled his ankle, but when his coach Rick Pitino tried to help him up, Ware said Pitino's face gave away the severity of his injury.
"He went to help me up and he kind of glanced at my leg and his eyes just got huge," he said. "So I'm looking at Coach P like 'what's wrong with him,' you know. And I kind of looked down at my leg and it was automatic shock."
Ware said when he saw his teammates crying, he knew he had to "pull out a magic trick," to keep them in the game.
He said, "If I wouldn't have said what I said, just me being myself and telling them I'm going to be fine, I really don't think we'd be in the Final Four, I really don't."
The injury was the last of his concerns, and Ware said he has great brothers and his team played. He said, "I kind of felt like if that was the last time I was going to play basketball, I left my mark."
When asked what it meant to him when he woke up in the hospital and saw the trophy, as Louisville beat Duke 85-63, tears welled up in his eyes. "It meant everything to me. They went out there and they did that for me. Words can't explain, I love those guys to death."
Louisville will play Wichita State on April 6.
