Indiana junior guard Maurice Creek met with the media Wednesday with head coach Tom Crean alongside, to discuss how his injury happened and how he is feeling.
Creek had surgery Monday to repair his torn left Achilles — his third surgery in 22 months. It all happened when walking up the stairs to his apartment. He immediately thought it was a sprain but called team trainer Tim Garl for further evaluation.
It’s quite remarkable what this kid had gone through to get back on the court and now he has another setback. Maurice Creek was ranked as the 56th best player in his 2009 class according to Rivals.com. Scouts believe he had the chance to head to the NBA after his sophomore season. He along with Christian Watford hoped to come in and make a big impact in Bloomington…but obviously everything changed. Unfortunately he has had to endure three surgeries, painful rehab and miss time on the court.
Before the injury, he still wasn’t 100% but I believe he could have played an important role off the bench. Creek has a great shot and depending on his legs, could drive to the basket and make something happen.
Coach Tom Crean feels terrible seeing one of his players go down for the third straight year but he believes Creek is prepared and mature enough to handle what lies ahead. (transcript thanks to Indiana Media Relations).
“There are some things I know and some things I don’t know. But I don’t know of anyone that has had to deal with that at his age with all that he has as a player and a person at this level…The thing that I am the most proud of with him is that he know that God has a plan, and there is no way that God gives people things that they cannot deal with. We don’t understand it but it’s not our place to understand it. But I am really proud of him and everything that he goes through. I am proud of his teammates and the support that they give him. I am proud of the support that Hoosier Nation gives him.”
Despite the injury, Creek has a very upbeat attitude and believes he can recover from yet another setback.
“I just want to thank my coaches and teammates for coming out here today and supporting me. This is a major part of my life where I had three major surgeries in 22 months and it has been pretty tough. I am going to take it one day at a time and one step at a time. I am still going to be here for these guys and they are still going to see my leadership and they are still going to see me communicate with the guys as if I was still playing.
“It was just a slip and a fall, a fall on a stair. I took a stair wrong and as I was coming down on my left foot and the back of my foot just snapped. There was nothing I could do about it, it was just a freak accident. I wish I could rewind time and get back exactly what happened but it happened. Like I said, I just have to take it one day at a time.”
On whether he could tell it was bad as soon as it happened:
“I thought it was just a sprain at first. As I was coming down the stairs (at my apartment), I could walk on it and everything. I really did feel like I had torn anything. I was walking on it and everything but I gave (athletic trainer Tim Garl) a call and informed him of everything. He had me come in and as I came in and went to the training room, he started to feel on it and it got pretty sore. That’s how I knew something was wrong. At the time, I didn’t feel as if I did anything.”
On where the strength comes from to handle this situation:
“It’s God’s will. He’s given me strength everyday. (My teammates) give me strength every day to fight this adversity. They are going to stick by me 100 percent and I am going to be with them 100 percent. At the end of the day, this is my family. God is part of my family. My family is part of my family. Hoosier Nation is part of my family. That is who is giving me the strength to get through these adversities.”
On what keeps him from asking “why me?”
“It’s not about me. It is about the team. It is never about me and I always look at the team first. You can never look at yourself first.”
On being prepared to handle this injury after going through the first two:
“I think I am because I am a lot older and more mature. I have been through those injuries and been through it twice. I’m looking at it from the mindset of `it happened, it’s not the end of the world and I’ll be back soon.’ It can’t be where I put my head down, I have to take it one step at a time.”
Watch Tom Crean and Maurice Creek talk about the freak injury below. (Courtesy of InsideIndiana.com)