Indiana head basketball coach Tom Crean has announced that junior guard Maurice Creek underwent surgery today to repair a torn Achilles tendon he suffered off the basketball court in his left leg. Crean would not confirm that Creek will miss the entirety of the 2011-2012 season, but that scenario seems to be the most likely.
Indiana’s Maurice Creek Has Surgery on Torn Achilles, Likely Out For Season
This is the third serious injury that Creek has suffered in the past 22 months. He had surgery to repair a broken left patella in late December of 2009, and his season ended last year after he suffered a stress fracture in his right patella in January.
“This is a devastating blow for someone who has worked so hard to get himself in a position to help this program again,” Crean said. “He is going to receive the best medical care possible and we will take his recovery one day at a time. I think the most important thing that we can do is to make Maurice know that despite his injury, he can serve a very vital role in helping our program and we will actively keep him involved every day.”
Creek had just dropped 31 on Kentucky and was the leading freshman scorer in the country at 17.3 points per game when he suffered his first injury. He struggled to find that freshman form a year ago, as he saw his scoring mark dip to 8.3 ppg before his season was cut-short after 18 games.
Still, Creek's leadership and experience was supposed to be a major boon for an Indiana team that will rely heavily on sophomore Christian Watford and freshman Cody Zeller. As it is, the best Hoosier fans can hope for is that he'll be a healthy redshirt junior when Crean's monster 2012 recruiting class joins the fold for the 2012-2013 season.
See More:
