Former Virginia basketball player Akil Mitchell is fortunate to have vision in his left eye after a freak injury on Thursday.
Mitchell, playing for the New Zealand Breakers, went up for a rebound in the fourth quarter and was poked in the eye by an opponent. The poke dislodged his left eye from its socket and Mitchell fell to the ground in agony. He remained on the ground for about 15 minutes, according to the Australian Associated Press. (An extremely graphic video of the injury can be seen here.)
The good news is that Mitchell’s injury is not as serious as the team initially feared.