Arkansas-Pine Bluff guard Zaay Green stays ahead of the pack after recovering from injuries

After recovering from two ACL tears in three years, University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff guard Zarielle “Zaay” Green has become the lead scorer in the Southwestern Athletic Conference this season as the Golden Lions prepare to start conference play.

Arkansas-Pine Bluff will face SWAC opponent Alabama A&M University on Saturday led by Green, who is averaging 19.2 points per game this season and also leads her team in rebounds (94), assists (83) and steals (24). She also ranks No. 3 in the nation in triple-doubles, with the same amount (two) as Iowa standout Caitlin Clark.

“She can play the one [position] all the way to the four,” said women’s basketball coach Dawn Thornton. “We are not limited at all and far from a one-dimensional team.”

The way Green and her father, former University of Central Oklahoma standout Zoderick Green, have practiced over the last 17 years prepared the graduate student to take center stage at Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

“I told her some days she wasn’t going to like me and I had to make sure she was ready to go through that,” he said.

Growing up in Duncanville, Texas, she worked out on the court at least three times a week by herself besides participating in school games, practices and high-level AAU. Workouts with her father would begin with ball handling using a single ball, then two balls, followed by cone drills. Her father then coached her through continuous crossovers for 30 minutes before ending the workouts with shooting and running.

While other children were planning their birthday parties, Green was traveling the country playing in the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League circuit.

“People don’t understand that this kid forfeited at least six birthdays just to do something she loved to do,” her father said.

In seventh grade, Green played 16U AAU and in eighth grade, she played 17U with many girls already committed to play for Division I programs. She led her team at Duncanville High School to back-to-back state titles in 2016 and 2017 and was named the Dallas Morning News’ girls basketball player of the year as a junior in 2017.

The five-star recruit decided to follow in the footsteps of her idol Las Vegas Aces forward Candace Parker and suit up for the University of Tennessee, where she was selected to the SEC All-Freshman team in 2019.

Her first injury occurred during her sophomore year. In November 2019, after playing in only two games, Green tore her right ACL, sidelining her for the remainder of the Lady Vols’ season. 

After making a full recovery, Green decided to transfer to Texas A&M University in April 2020, but it was not a great fit, she said.

“There were a lot of seniors on the team, and I felt like it took a long time to develop trust with the coaches, since I was a transfer,” Green said. “I knew I could play with them but it was more of them having a system going and that’s what the system was, and all I could do was try to be a part of that system.”

Green decided to enter the transfer portal again. For Thornton, who had been a coach in Dallas while Green was in her high school prime, the player already had left an impression. Green’s AAU coach Corey Haywood connected the two women.

“Before I had the opportunity to watch film on her, it was already a done deal,” Thornton said. “She’s always had the It factor. It was just a no-brainer. We never had to sit down and study to see if she fit what we do.”

Green landed at historically Black college Arkansas Pine-Bluff for the 2021-22 season.

“This was the first HBCU that contacted me,” Green said. “I said to myself why not. It feels like everything happens for a reason. Why not be different? I went with my gut and I trusted Coach T, and I’ve been fine where I’m at ever since.”

After earning SWAC newcomer of the year honors in her debut season at Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Green tore her left ACL in a pickup game on campus, forcing her to miss the 2022-23 season.

This time, she knew what the rehab consisted of and wanted to take a low-profile approach. She decided not to post on social media about her second injury to limit distractions. Green also opted to have the surgery at home in Dallas and had the support of Thornton and her coaching staff, who traveled more than 300 miles to be by her bedside.

“All the coaches came for her surgery and that was really big for me,” Zoderick Green said. “It made me really see she [Thornton] wants the best for my kid.”

While rehabbing, Green traded in her Arkansas-Pine Bluff uniform for a uniform at a local gas station, where locals would often recognize her from her high school days and ask whether she was still playing basketball.

“It was a true reality check,” Green said. “I was shell-shocked. A lot of people were surprised to see me.”

Throughout Green’s recovery, she had two things on her mind: coming back for herself and her coach.

“No matter what, I was coming back to play for Coach T,” Green said.

Though Green recovered enough to be able to play last year, her father stepped in and convinced her to sit out, wanting her to get fully healthy.

She returned for Arkansas-Pine Bluff’s season opener in early November, scoring a team-high 26 points against Oregon State University. She also led the Golden Lions with 21 points during their 74-70 upset win over the Arkansas Razorbacks in December, Arkansas-Pine Bluff’s first victory over a Power 5 school in program history.

“She was mad at me, but she surely isn’t mad at me anymore,” he said. “I told her she was going to sit out so that when she does go back, she will be the best teammate. I also feel like being on the bench really helped her to see the game differently. I wanted to see my baby go out there, and look how she looks now.”

Before Green’s arrival at Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Thornton emphasized a motion-style offense to fluidly run the ball through each player. Now, she said, the offense moves through Green as a scorer and facilitator.

At 6-feet-2, Green’s skill set involves being able to see over the person guarding her, Thornton said, and Green is learning how to dump the ball out to her teammates to confuse defenses and keep opponents from winning by double-teaming her.

Thornton believes social media has amplified Green’s statistics and successes, such as her play against Arkansas and her 8-0 run in one minute and 20 seconds against North Texas, and that it will get Green the looks she needs to attract the WNBA. A scout from the Seattle Storm visited Arkansas-Pine Bluff in December specifically to see Green.

“It’s the power of marketing skills from athletic departments, and that’s the reason why there is so much hype around women’s basketball right now,” Thornton said. “Women’s basketball has always been fun and challenging. Think about what it should have looked like if Sheryl Swoopes, Cynthia Cooper and that whole Houston Comets team had the content creators we have now in real time on social media.”

Even with the boost from social media, Green said, not a day goes by that she does not pray for her WNBA dreams to come true.

“I always feel like I have something to prove,” Green said. “It’s really because of my process, my story and where I have been. Even when I do make it, I’ll still feel like I have something to prove.”