Ray feels lucky, could be back soon

VILLANOVA, Pa. – Allan Ray considers himself lucky to have survived his eye-opening experience.

The senior guard expects to play for No. 2 Villanova in the NCAA tournament, probably with protective goggles, after he was hit hard in his right eye at the Big East tournament. For several scary minutes, the Wildcats’ second-leading scorer thought he was blind and his career was over.

“When I was on that floor and couldn’t see anything, that was one of the first things I was thinking about, I’d probably be blind,” Ray said, wearing sunglasses to protect a slightly bloodshot eye. “I thought I was. I couldn’t see anything. Everything was burning. Pretty much, my life just flashed in front of me.”

Ray was cleared Sunday to participate in non-contact basketball drills. He was scheduled to be examined again today by an eye specialist.

He is fully anticipating he will receive medical clearance to resume full basketball activities later this week.

“This could have been a very serious, almost catastrophic injury,” coach Jay Wright said. “They expect a full recovery.”

Wright said he expected Ray to shoot with the Wildcats today. Wright said Ray’s eyelid was pushed behind the eyeball which made it look like the eyeball was protruding.

Ray is using eye drops to treat the eye.

Ray, a first-team all-Big East selection and Villanova’s second-leading scorer at 18.8 points per game, was hit in the right eye early in the second half of Friday night’s semifinal loss to Pittsburgh.

He was taken to a hospital, then saw an eye specialist on Saturday who confirmed that Ray sustained a soft-tissue injury.