Tech's Green may miss opener with Achilles' injury

BLACKSBURG — The Virginia Tech men’s basketball team may be without starting point guard Erick Green for its season opener Saturday against East Tennessee State.

The junior suffered an injury to his left Achilles tendon while doing a shooting drill Friday and is in a walking boot.

"I’m cautiously optimistic that Erick has a chance to be back with us," Hokies coach Seth Greenberg said Tuesday. "We’ll only know that in the next few days. We’re surely not going to risk 20 games for one game."

Green, who called his injury an Achilles strain, said he hopes to play in the opener, and he doesn’t expect the injury to carry over into any of Tech’s games next week.

"If I do miss a game, it’ll probably be just one, but I don’t plan on missing any games," Green said.

If Green can’t play, sophomore Ty Garland will likely start at point guard against ETSU, and senior starting shooting guard Dorenzo Hudson could play some at the point if needed.

"It’s not going to be the prettiest thing ever, but I can get the ball up the court," Hudson said. "I feel I can get it done on Saturday if I need to."

The 6-foot-3, 185-pound Green averaged 11.6 points per game last season and led Tech with 56 steals. He finished third in the ACC in average steals (1.8) and assist to turnover ratio (2.3).

Greenberg said Green was playing at a high level before the injury.

"You just hope he doesn’t lose that momentum that he was playing with, because he was playing with great confidence, and great energy and great burst, making some really good, sound basketball plays," Greenberg said.

The Hokies have been hit hard by injuries this preseason. Freshman point guard Marquis Rankin had surgery on his left knee in October and is expected to miss at least the first week of the season. Senior forward JT Thompson suffered a season-ending knee injury last week.

Thompson had surgery Tuesday and still hasn’t decided whether to petition the NCAA for a sixth year of eligibility.

"We’re going to talk about it after his surgery and when he starts his rehab," Greenberg said. "I think he will want to play. That’s just my gut feeling. I don’t know that for a fact. It’s not something that we really have discussed."