Louisville is moving onto the NCAA Final Four, but the Cardinals' moment of triumph was marred Sunday by a tragic on-the-court moment.
Sophomore guard Kevin Ware left an indelible image of Sunday's game pitting Louisville against the Duke Blue Devils when his right leg snapped in horrifying fashion after he landed from a shot block attempt in the first half of the game.
A key player in Louisville's recent 14-game winning streak, Ware went up for a block against Duke's Tyler Thornton with 6:33 was left in the half of the game. However, as he came down, his leg visibly split in two places as his right foot hit the floor.
Players and coaches were visibly shocked, as were the fans in attendance, as game play was delayed in order to have emergency response teams help Ware, who lay visibly in pain on the floor.
"The bone was literally out. I saw white, it was literally out," Louisville's Chane Behanan, who collapsed to his hands and feet at the sight, told ABC News.
Louisville coach Rick Pitino, who admitted he wanted to throw up at that moment, was amazed that Ware, as he layed sprawled on the ground with his leg splintered while EMT's attended him, still had the focus to tell his teammates a simple message: Win the game.
"The bone's 6 inches out of his leg and all he's yelling is, 'Win the game, win the game,'" Pitino said after the game. "I've not seen that in my life. ... Pretty special young man."
Ware underwent emergency surgery after the game, which was successful. Louisville athletic officials tweeted a picture of Ware moving around on crutches Monday post-surgery.
Because Ware's bone punctured his skin, medical experts say the leg needed to be tended to immediately.
"It looks like because of the way he landed coming down, the torque was too great, and then he landed so awkwardly," Dr. Leon Popovitz, orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist at NY Bone & Joint Specialists, told FoxNews.com. "Instead of the force going centrally through the bone like nature intended, the force went more diagonally through the bone and caused it to snap like a carrot."
Following surgery, Ware, who has had family and his girlfriend by his bedside, told ESPN.com Monday that at the moment of the injury, he wasn't aware how serious it really was.
"I jumped and my leg felt kind of funny," he said. "When Coach P tried to help me up, he gave me a funny kind of look. I'm looking at him and then I look down and I see my bone sticking out. It wasn't a hurt feeling. I just went into shock. In the moment, you don't know what's wrong with you. You're just looking, thinking, 'How did this happen?' I never watched the replay. I never want to."
Despite the physical setback, Ware insisted that he would be fine.
"Hopefully I'll be back in time to watch practice," Ware said. "It hurts but I'll be fine. I'll be fine."
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