‘An emotional day.’ Kentucky loses senior Blair Green to probable season-ending injury.

Less than two weeks before the start of the 2021-22 basketball season, the University of Kentucky’s hopes suffered a devastating setback Saturday when the Wildcats announced senior guard Blair Green is expected to miss the entire season with a knee injury.

Green sustained “a significant lower-leg injury” during UK’s closed scrimmage against Eastern Kentucky University on Saturday.

“This has been an emotional day for our program. Blair, her teammates and everyone in this program are hurting as we wrap our minds around potentially losing her for the season before it begins,” UK head coach Kyra Elzy said in a news release.

Elzy, entering her second season as head coach at Kentucky, said this preseason that she was counting on big things from Green, who started 18 of UK’s 27 games last season and was projected as a full-time starting guard this season.

“Blair Green exemplifies what being a Kentucky women’s basketball player is all about,” Elzy’s statement said. “Although it appears we have lost her on the court, her leadership off the court will still have an impact on our team this season. We will be here to support her through this and make sure she comes out better on the other side. I ask that Big Blue Nation fills her and her family with love and support right now.”

Green averaged 6.0 points in 20.4 minutes per game last season but was an effective three-point shooter (33.3 percent) that Elzy was counting on to create space offensively while adding new elements to her game and taking on a greater scoring load.

“She is the epitome of what I’m looking for in a basketball player,” Elzy told the Herald-Leader’s Cameron Drummond this preseason. “I’m really counting on her to average double figures this year.”

Green, from Harlan County High School, has scored 510 points in her three seasons at Kentucky. At Harlan County, she led the Black Bears to the Sweet Sixteen as a senior, when she was a finalist for Miss Basketball and a McDonald’s All-American nominee.

The loss of Green reduces Kentucky’s roster to 10 active players just 11 days before the Wildcats are scheduled to open the regular season Nov. 9 at home against Presbyterian.

Kentucky’s roster of available scholarship players now includes guards Robyn Benton, Rhyne Howard, Treasure Hunt, Emma King, Jazmine Massengill and Jada Walker; forwards Dre’una Edwards and Nyah Leveretter and center Olivia Owens.

Elzy announced Oct. 13 that the team had added guard Kristen Crenshaw-Gill, a freshman walk-on from Youngstown, Ohio. Five days prior to Crenshaw-Gill’s addition, sophomore guard Erin Toller was dismissed from the team.

Kentucky lost four players after last season, including starters Chasity Patterson, KeKe McKinney and Tatyana Wyatt. The Wildcats brought in only one new player this offseason prior to Crenshaw-Gill: the freshman Walker. UK is not expected to add any players before the start of the season.

Kentucky will return to the court Thursday for an exhibition game against Lee University in Memorial Coliseum. Tip-off is at 7 p.m. The game is not televised.