James Scott made his March Madness debut with the Louisville Cardinals on Thursday morning. He did so while wearing a mask that makes him look like Bane from The Dark Knight Rises and/or Hannibal Lecter.
It was actually designed by his fellow classmates to protect his face after the true sophomore suffered a gruesome injury at the beginning of February.
The mask made its debut on the national stage during an 8/9 matchup against Creighton. Now even the casual fans are aware of Louisville’s terrifying-looking forward!
Scott, who transferred from Charleston to play for head coach Pat Kelsey, averaged 7.3 points and 6.2 rebounds in 23.9 minutes per game during the 2024-25 college basketball season. He is the most important frontcourt player on the team and at no point did he miss a game, even though nobody would’ve faulted him if he did.
The 6-foot-11 big had his head smashed on the hardwood during a game against Miami on Feb. 8. Blood was gushing from his mouth as he exited the court with a traumatic facial injury. Scott could not close his mouth.
https://t.co/CaJGRXoBfY pic.twitter.com/DWwJ7Np1jl
— State of Louisville (@thestateoflou) February 8, 2025
Kelsey later revealed the extent of the injury, which required emergency oral surgery.
He had both front teeth knocked out, and then it got pushed so far up into his gum that they had to go in and, like, extract pieces. It was a lot more extensive than just, you know, getting your tooth knocked out, which is pretty extensive anyway.
So, he spent quite a bit of time on Saturday in a dentist chair, in his basketball uniform.
— Pat Kelsey
Although Scott was told that he could sit out for a game or two to recover, Louisville’s next game was at North Carolina State. Scott grew up in North Carolina and his family was going to attend. Even his grandfather in a wheelchair. He was not going to miss that game.
James Scott was ultimately cleared to play by doctors but only with a protective mask. While that is not uncommon in basketball, his mask looks different than most.
Engineering students at the University of Louisville custom-designed a mask for Scott, who also fractured some bones in his face. Sophie Wegenast and Justin Gillham crafted the face guard in less than 24 hours with a 3D printer at the school’s Additive Manufacturing Institute of Science and Technology (AMIST). They took about 20 minutes to scan Scott’s head and immediately got to work.
The mask, which looks like something out of a horror movie, is perfectly molded to his facial features. Even if it does not seem that way, Scott can see, breathe and talk without issue. And neither Wegenast nor Gillham have received a complaint about its comfortability! Just as long as he does not take a direct shot to the face, the mask will hold up.
Bane famously said that nobody cared who he was before he put on the mask. That is not the case with James Scott, because people cared about him before the mask, but it continues to grow his legend. I hope he wears the face guard next season too!