When Nyk Lewis fell to the floor in pain just 45 seconds into VCU's 76-55 loss to Illinois in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, his first thought – other than the obvious 'ouch' – wasn't sadness. It wasn't disappointment. It was surprise. Going back to his days in youth sports, the then freshman from Washington, D.C. had never suffered an injury that kept him out of action.
 
"It was really unexpected. I just wouldn't think that would ever happen," Lewis said. "This is basketball, you can have a good or a bad game. I just didn't think getting injured was in the cards."
 
After landing on teammate Brandon Jennings' foot while going for a rebound, Lewis' ankle turned, as Daniel Roose, VCU's Director of Sports Performance described it, the opposite way of a traditional ankle sprain. The result was a grade 3 sprain, a fracture in his lower leg, and a long five to six months of healing and rehab work.
 
"After I accepted it, it was like 'dang, I worked hard this whole season. This was supposed to be a chance to showcase my skills on a national scale,'" Lewis said. "I couldn't do that anymore. It hurt in the moment obviously. It was just disappointing."
 
Given the nature of the injury and the lengthy expected timeline back to full health, Lewis could have easily been down. But despite his lack of injury history, it's not in his nature to let a setback keep him from pushing forward. So, after learning his diagnosis and the medical plan set forth by VCU's strength and conditioning, physical therapy and the athletic training staff, he was ready to get the ball rolling.
 
"He was fairly upbeat. You know, certainly, he was disappointed to get hurt; nobody likes that. But he was ready to attack it," said Head Coach Phil Martelli Jr. "Nyk is one to take on any challenge. he's not going to run from anything or hide from anything. With him, I'm not surprised. It's who he is."
 
When basketball activities started ramping back up in the late spring and into the summer, Lewis found himself in a new position. He wasn't always participating with the team on the court. A lot of his work was being done off to the side while he continued to check boxes on his rehab assignments. Eventually, he found his way back into team drills and got to push himself against another person for limited periods of time.
 
"It felt a little bit foreign to me. Obviously, you've been doing something your whole life, and you haven't been sitting and watching people play basketball for five of six months," he said. "It felt like 'Should I really be doing this right now?' for the first week. Then I got back in the swing of things and I'm just very grateful and happy to be back out there."
 
In those periods where Lewis had to return to the sideline, Martelli made sure his point guard – the leader on the court – didn't waste an opportunity. Regardless of injury, Martelli wanted Lewis to become more vocal with his leadership. Watching from the sideline was a perfect chance to work on that part of his game without dribbling a ball.
 
"My thing with him was don't stand over here and be a mascot. We don't need a mascot. Help coach a team," Martelli said. "Whatever team he was on that day, I encouraged him to coach that team. You see things, you have comments, you have whatever, help talk guys through things. It took him a little bit to get used to that, but once he did, he did a great job with that. Everyone respects him. He works hard and is invested in winning and the team. It wasn't a super difficult thing for him to pick up."
 
Martelli saus Lewis took to it naturally, and his teammates noticed.
 
"We've always hearing his voice on the sidelines so that's been great. He's constantly working hard and it has definitely helped him out," Jennings said.
 
Jennings continued on his teammate's work ethics from the sideline and on the court throughout the preseason, "[Lewis] is a very determined person. He doesn't need much. He always kept his eyes on the goal for the team and the goal for himself."
 
An injury happening right at the end of the season is a bit of a gift and a curse. On the bright side, there's a wide-open schedule without missing a game. On the other hand, it can be a detriment to the motivation of the player.
 
"It was a help in the timeline as far as the team goes as we didn't have games for six months …," Roose said. "…But that can also slow it does sometimes for guys. That carrot isn't out in front of you."
 
In Lewis' case, that carrot was never an issue. Whether it was his pool or treadmill work or slowly working his way back onto the court, the coaching staff never had to push Lewis to get to work. In fact, Martelli and Roose were more likely to have to rein in the point guard during his summer work. It's that tenacity that ultimately led him to getting back onto the court and into full-contact drills weeks ahead of schedule.
 
"I think for him, it was almost the opposite, like 'all right, we need to make sure he doesn't overly push through this thing,'" Martell said. "We had the benefit of time. We're not missing games, as much as he wanted to be out there on the court in the spring with the guys. Just being who he is it would be in his nature to go extra or do more."
 
With last year in the rearview mirror and with the injury getting further and further behind him, Lewis is fully focused on the upcoming season. He's got goals to improve … pretty much every aspect of his game. And as for last year's second-round knockout, he's not satisfied with that either.
 
"Just improving on my reads, my shooting, my defense. The little mistakes I made last year. As a team I expect us to go even further than we did last year," Lewis said. "I'm not really putting a cap on us. Why can't we make the Final Four?"