Brittney Sykes knew it had happened again the second she collapsed to the floor.

Lying in pain next to the stanchion on the side of the court opposite the Syracuse bench on Jan. 4, her teammates, coaches and the 2,158 fans in attendance all wondered. But Sykes was already certain.

“You go eight months rehabbing, you learn who you are. You learn your body,” Sykes said. “Other than me hearing the actual pop that everybody talks about, you know your body. Once it happened, I went into more of a shock and fear.”

Sykes came back for Syracuse on Dec. 28 after tearing her ACL and meniscus in March 2014. She spent her summer waking up at 6 a.m. to rehab. She hobbled up to classes with a brace and crutches. She sat anxiously at the end of the bench as Syracuse played its first 13 games without her. And just a week to the day after her return — in the second half on a Sunday afternoon matchup against then-No. 4 Notre Dame — it started all over again.

Speaking with reporters Wednesday morning for the first time since, Sykes says the process is the same. She’s doing the same workouts and talking to the same people. Sykes hopes to be back at the start of the 2015–16 season and SU head coach Quentin Hillsman expects her to qualify for a medical redshirt, which would give her two years of eligibility remaining.

“She’s a tough kid. It’s really easy for her to just throw it in and give up. But she’s working to get back,” Hillsman said. “… It’s more mental than it is physical at this point. And you have to be a mentally strong person. And she’s that.”

A Syracuse billboard featuring Sykes proclaimed her return. But when she came back, a big brace covered her right knee. She struggled, botching numerous layups and free throws. She missed assignments in the back of the zone and scored just seven points on 3-of-13 shooting.

After her second injury, her teammates and coaches praised her for being in good spirits. But even Sykes admitted that she sometimes questioned why all of this had happened to her.

“It’s kind of a shock to me, you don’t expect that to happen,” Sykes said. “When it happens, you have to take it day by day. That’s what I’ve done. Some days are bad. Some days are good. Some days are my worst. Some days are my best. But at the end the end of the day, I’m a regular person before basketball.”

SU guard Maggie Morrison said Sykes took on the role of pseudo coach. She was often the first person to talk when players walked back to the bench from a timeout. She’s not afraid to call players out.

When SU started 0-of-17 from 3 against Virginia Tech on Feb. 15, it was Sykes that told her teammates to keep shooting as the Orange pulled off a comeback win.

“She’s making the most of it,” Morrison said. “She’s working on her strengths getting back. She’s in the gym more than anybody I know. At the beginning it was probably really rough, but she’s taken a good approach to it.”

Lying on the court surrounded by coaches and trainers, Sykes convinced herself she had to stand up and walk off the court. Her mother was in the stands and she didn’t want to scare her.

Throughout the second half, Sykes came back out to the bench to watch her team play.

When she returned to the bench after her first injury in the 2014 NCAA tournament, her eyes were red from the tears she shed. This time, she was smiling and laughing, but knew all along that everything she had been though was just starting over again.

“You gotta think, it’s not just you,” Sykes said. “You’re a part of a team. Of course, in my head I didn’t want to go back out there. But in my heart, I knew that I belonged with my team. They were worried about me. And I was worried about them, more than my own knee.”

Published on April 1, 2015 at 1:07 pm

Contact Sam: sblum@syr.edu | @SamBlum3