Indiana matched last season’s win total, picking up their 6th win of the season with a 90-42 victory over Bryant University. Bryant, in just their 2nd year of playing Division I basketball, it was evident from the outset that this would be a momentum win, a win that would boost the confidence of this young team.
The big news however is that Tom Crean lost the team’s best player in Maurice Creek. With 15:26 remaining in the 2nd half Creek went down hard underneath the north basket. As you can see above, it was not a pretty sight.
Creek was in tremendous pain and could not fathom what he saw. Trainer Tim Garl came over with Dr. Steve Ahlfeld and helped him up in a chair. Then to make things easier, Coach Crean called for a stretcher to help him off the court. He then went directly to the training room to be checked out.
We found out on the postgame radio show with the legend Don Fischer, that Creek fractured his left knee and is having surgery Tuesday done by Dr. Steve Ahlfeld in Indianapolis.
“Our players are stunned,” Crean said. “They’re going to need some help to get through this one. They’re going to need help from our crowd in the next game. Our guys are going to fight through this and play hard but they’re going to need some help.
There’s no question this will be a huge loss for the IU program. One that Tom Crean is trying to rebuild and restore the tradition. IU loses talent on the court, one who boosts the confidence of his teammates. Creek is the freshman leading scorer in the Big Ten, averaging 17.6 ppg, and is fourth overall in the league. He is the leader of the six-man freshman class that was rated in the top 5 by most recruiting services.
With Creek out, others will be called upon for more minutes. The face of the team now turns to power forward Christian Watford. He will have to play more at the 3 position, and must be more of a scoring threat. Watford has scored in double figures 9 of 12 games this season. Jordan Hulls stepped up against Bryant, starting his first career game, and scored 12 points (4-6 from 3-pt) while directing the team.
There will be no replacing Maurice Creek. It is going to take a collaborative team effort the remainder of the season to scratch out some Big Ten wins. Michigan, Illinois and Minnesota all possible. Iowa, Penn State and Northwestern are must wins. Hopefully Tom Crean and his young team can get over the 10-win mark, in slow steps to restore the tradition of Indiana Basketball.