<p><strong>M</strong>ackenzie Blazek experienced a wide range of emotions during her sophomore basketball season at the University of Illinois.</p><p>The disappointment of playing in less than half of her team’s games is what motivates her most moving forward.</p><p>Diagnosed with a right leg injury, Blazek, a 6-foot-3 Whiteland graduate who was expected to give the Illini a formidable interior presence, saw action in just 14 of 30 contests. She sat out the final eight regular-season games, as well a 71-55 loss to Wisconsin in the first round of the Big Ten Conference tournament in Indianapolis.</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]<p>“I have stress reactions in my shin, though luckily we caught it before it became a stress fracture,” Blazek said. “This is a reoccurring injury. I missed most of the preseason, actually, so I was rehabbing and doing my own thing with trying to stay in shape even though I couldn’t play basketball.</p><p>“When I got back there were some games where I felt like myself, and then it started hurting again.”</p><p>In January, Blazek was in the starting lineup for five consecutive games, a stretch that began with a win over Minnesota. She averaged just under 21 minutes of court time in those games, totaling 15 points, 17 rebounds and seven assists.</p><p>“I was feeling a little bit of pain around then. It really came on pretty quickly,” Blazek said. “It was like, I was feeling good, and then it got a little sore. It’s definitely an unfortunate situation. We were playing at Rutgers and I thought this was hurting me more than just a shin splint feeling.</p><p>“I talked with my trainer, and we got an MRI. It showed the stress reactions in the front of my shin and a couple of other places. Then (the season) was done for me, unfortunately.”</p><p>Well, almost.</p><p>It was important to Blazek that she play in the next game, Illinois’ annual Pack the House and Play for Kay Pink Game in which the team wears pink uniforms in support of the fight against breast cancer. The Illini lost, 73-64, but Blazek was able to play six minutes.</p><p>“Coach (Nancy) Fahey let me get a couple minutes, which I was really grateful for with that being our pink game and everything,” Blazek said.</p><p>The sophomore finished the season with averages of 4.6 points and 4.1 boards. Blazek’s eight total blocks ended up fourth on the team despite all of the games she missed.</p><p>“I think I can speak for every athlete that, as a competitor, it’s just really hard to sit and watch,” she said. “I was thankful that I could still travel with the team and be there to support my teammates. My coaches and my teammates were good about making me feel included, so I was thankful for them during that time.</p><p>“When you’re on a team, they’re your family, so knowing you’re still going to be part of a family even when you’re not able to be on the court means everything.”</p><p>The injury that limited Blazek this season doesn’t require surgery. Rather, it’s about rest and doing low-impact workouts.</p><p>Under normal circumstances, Blazek would be on campus working with the team’s trainer and strength coach in order to get back to full strength by the start of the Illini’s 2020-21 season. However, because of the current COVID-19 pandemic, she is at home working out daily in the living room with two 10-pound dumbbells.</p><p>She’ll have to play a major role for the Illini the second half of her college basketball career is the team is to have a chance of posting its first winning record since the 2012-13 season.</p><p>“I thought the way she ended up at the end of last year, she was on a path we were really excited for. She was really doing well,” Fahey said. “In the Big Ten, you have to have somebody inside to be a rim stopper. Someone who can simply get boards because of her physical presence.</p><p>“I want her healthy first. Mackenzie is a kid you can coach. You can talk to her and challenge her. She’s really worked hard to maintain a physical shape at a time when you can’t do as much. I give her credit for really working hard to keep herself in a position to come back.”</p>
