Creek finally gets his chance at ‘Big Dance’

As the IU faithful said goodbye to one of its most storied recruiting classes in Hoosier history on March 5, something did not seem complete. Three players stood at center court, reliving their four years on Bloomington’s campus, talking about the experience of rebuilding a team that won just 10 games in its first season to one of the best in the country this year.

The seniors, Jordan Hulls, Christian Watford and Derek Elston, stood alongside their families shedding a tear here and there, reminiscing about the long hours and hard work it had taken to get to their senior night. But one of their teammates was meant to be with them, too.

No, not Bawa Muniru and Bobby Capobianco, who both left IU as transfers before their IU careers were complete. Maurice Creek stood on the sidelines with the rest of his teammates, his senior night still one year away.

Creek had entered the IU program and started all 12 of his first games as a Hoosier, but season-ending injuries had plagued his once-promising career, giving him another season to finish what he started.

Last year, Creek was left sitting on the bench as IU made it back to the “Big Dance” for the first time since 2008. But finally, after a slew of surgeries, days in rehab and missed games, Creek will have a chance Friday to take the court in his first NCAA Tournament game and get a taste of what he and his senior teammates had been working toward since their freshman season.

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Creek came to Bloomington in August 2009 as just one player of six who hoped to turn a once-storied IU men’s basketball program around. He came in as a top-15 shooting guard prospect and would make an immediate impression as a freshman.

After scoring 17 points to lead the team against Howard in his first collegiate game, Creek would go on to score in double digits for the first seven games of his career.
Though he amassed just eight points in a victory against Pittsburgh in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden in his eighth game, Creek was primed to break out onto the NCAA scene.

In a 90-73 loss to Kentucky at Assembly Hall, Creek exploded with a season-high 31 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the floor, including 5-of-8 made shots from beyond the arc.

Creek was now the leading freshman scorer in the country, averaging 17.3 points through his first nine games. He followed his performance against the Wildcats with one nearly as impressive, scoring 29 on 5-of-10 shooting from beyond the arc in an 81-58 win against North Carolina Central.

For Creek, it seemed like everything was falling into place.

“I was surprised I was having a great season, and it felt great to come out here and surprise yourself with how well you’re playing to begin your college career,” Creek said. “Most people don’t get that, and I did, I was feeling really good.”

After a close loss to Loyola (Md.), IU was 5-6 with just one game left before the conference slate began, but even before the rigors of the Big Ten, Creek and the Hoosiers were hit with a devastating blow, one that would become all too common during Creek’s time in Bloomington.

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Early in the second half of the following game against Bryant, Creek suffered a fractured left kneecap that would end his freshman season prematurely. He entered the game as the country’s third-leading freshman scorer, but he would never get a chance to see what the storied start to his first year at IU could have held.

Instead, he sat out the entirety of IU’s conference schedule, where the Hoosiers struggled, going just 3-15 to finish the season 10-21.

Creek said he did whatever he could to get back to where he was in the middle of his freshman year, and at the start of his sophomore season, things seemed to be looking up.

Although he wasn’t always in the starting lineup his sophomore season, Creek still managed to make an impact on the court, averaging 8.3 points and still proving to be a threat from the 3-point line.

But less than 13 months after a knee injury stole his freshman season, Creek would go down once again, this time with a fractured right knee on Jan. 15, 2011, against Michigan.

He had surgery just five days later and sat out the rest of the season, again rehabbing and trying to be certain he could come back for his junior year just as strong.

But this time, Creek wouldn’t make a return to competition for quite some time.

Days before the start of practice in October 2011, Creek ruptured his Achilles tendon walking up the stairs of his apartment building. He would be forced to undergo yet another season-ending surgery. This time, it was before his season had even
begun.

Creek’s teammates were left to wonder why their friend and teammate, who showed so much promise as a freshman, had to suffer blow after blow.

“Anybody on this team goes down, you hate to see it because of all the work we’ve put in, but especially with Mo,” Elston said. “When he goes down, you have to wonder why it happens to Mo.”

Creek continued to work with IU’s strength and condition staff, particularly athletic trainer Tim Garl and strength and conditioning coach Je’Ney Jackson, but even Creek couldn’t figure out why his body kept giving out on him.

But he said he gained a new appreciation for the game and realized he had to take advantage of every opportunity he had to make an impact on the court, because he never knew when it might be his last.

“I grew a lot,” Creek said. “As a freshman, when I was playing a lot, I didn’t think the game could be taken away from me at any time, and I appreciated the game, but now I appreciate it even more ‘cause I know that any time, any day, it could be your day.
“You want to give it your all every day and make sure your guys are making sure you give it your all every day, cause when the game is lost, it’s lost.”

Creek continued to work with Garl and Jackson throughout the 2011-12 season as the Hoosiers met and exceeded expectations — taking down No. 1 Kentucky and making it back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2008.

He wished he could be out on the court, but Creek said he took to a new role, both in practice and during games: to help his teammates see what they might otherwise miss during games.

Though he was down, he was never out.

“I tried to be a player-coach, knowing that I couldn’t play, but I could motivate my guys to do better,” Creek said. “I could show them stuff that I see on the court, stuff that they can’t see on the court that I can see off the court. Just telling them where they need to be, just telling them to keep going, push harder, do better, and those motivating words got them to where they were.

“Sweet Sixteen, and we could have gone to the Elite Eight. Just to have that, and just for me to be there was a great feeling.”

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At the start of this season, Creek finally was able to make it out onto the court without the aid of crutches. During Hoosier Hysteria, IU’s exhibition game against Indiana Wesleyan and the team’s first regular season game against Bryant, Creek’s first appearance on the court was greeted with thunderous applause and a standing ovation from the IU crowd.

Although the fans couldn’t go through any of his surgeries or countless rehab sessions for him, Creek was certain they appreciated the work he had put in. For Creek, those were some of his best moments as a Hoosier, he said.

“It’s the best feeling in the world,” Creek said. “Not only do I know what it took to get there, to get back on the floor, but they showed that they knew what it took for me to get back on the floor.

“They appreciated every bit of work that I did. By having that standing ovation and having them welcome me back in Hoosier Hysteria and the first regular season game, it was just a great feeling to have.”

But it was clear that with IU’s freshman class, led by guard Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell, along with the emergence of junior guard Victor Oladipo, Creek wouldn’t be as close to the focal point of the offense as he once was just three years ago.

Playing less than 10 minutes per game this season while scoring two points per game, Creek said he knows now that he won’t be the star that goes and drops 20 or 30 points in a single game, but his role in IU’s success is just as important as ever.

“It’s just a different path, just a different path, and you’ve got to embrace it,” Creek said. “Sometimes, you can’t be the spotlight. This is what I have to go through. This is what happens when you get injuries and stuff like that. You have to take a different role and a different path and get used to it.”

His return to the game this season hit a minor setback when he hurt his right foot in practice Dec. 16, forcing him to miss eight games, including the first five of the Big Ten season. Since returning, Creek has scored just five buckets.

But this time, with IU’s NCAA Tournament run to begin Friday, Creek is finally healthy, and he’s ready to experience what all the rehab, surgeries and time in the gym were for.

Hulls said this time around in the NCAA Tournament will certainly be different for Creek, as he hopes to grab his first minutes ever in the “Big Dance.” But Hulls said he knows that through all Creek has gone through, the pressure he will face of playing in an NCAA Tournament game will be nothing.

“It will be a little different, but he was with us and was able to see the atmosphere and how intense it is and how prepared we really have to be,” Hulls said. “Mo is a veteran. He’s smart, and he’s been around all us guys. I think he’ll be alright as long as he just stays mentally focused and keeps his head up.”

Keeping his head up is one thing Creek said he’s learned to do better than anything since first taking steps onto Branch McCracken Court as a freshman. No matter what this NCAA Tournament brings, he said he’s very poised and excited to have one more season next year to continue on his Hoosier legacy, hopefully this time with a full season slate.

“I didn’t have the mental toughness back then, and I have it,” Creek said. “I know it’s going to come and go, and when it comes and goes, you’ve got to be ready to go the next day.”