College Basketball

Kevin Ware returns 220 days after gruesome injury

Kevin Ware defied the odds by suiting up in Louisville’s final exhibition game Wednesday night — 220 days after his ugly compound leg fracture captivated the country and was one of the defining moments of the 2013 NCAA tournament as the Cardinals won it all. 

The junior guard made his long-awaited to the court a memorable one, drilling the first shot he took – a 3-pointer – and finished with six points and four rebounds in 10 minutes in Louisville’s 99-61 rout of the University of Pikeville at the KFC Yum! Center.

“I’d been waiting for this moment for 220 days,” Ware told the Louisville Courier-Journal. “I honestly thought I would airball my first shot. When it went in, everything went back to normal.”

Ware was cleared by doctors last Thursday and took part in full-contact practice on Sunday. Teammates raved about him and he said he has leg-pressed 245 pounds during workouts, feeling better than before the gruesome injury.

Ware hit the floor once, after taking a hard foul. The crowd gasped, but he was fine.

“I don’t think they’ll ever get used to it,” teammate Chris Jones said. “I was still scared. When he fell I was still scared. I was like, ‘Oh, no, not again.’ But he hopped right up.”