Creek out for season, fractures knee

Freshman Maurice Creek, the team's leading scorer, fractured his knee and will miss the rest of the season after landing on it awkwardly going up for a layup early in the second half against Bryant on Monday.

Creek will undergo knee surgery in Indianapolis on Tuesday.

Despite a 48-point win, the postgame mood was somber as players and coaches reacted to the injury.

IU coach Tom Crean said the injury was "gut-wrenching." Verdell Jones said the team will dedicate the rest of the season to Creek.

Creek, who led all Big Ten freshmen in scoring, averaged 17.6 points per game for the Hoosiers, including a 31-point effort against then-No. 4 Kentucky.

"He's a very special young man from a special family," Crean said, adding that his connection with Creek goes back to Creek's sophomore year in high school when he started recruiting him for Marquette. Creek, he said, would follow him to whichever school he coached.

The team was able to meet with Creek after the game in the locker room, encouraging a clearly dejected freshman.

"The creator God is the only one that knows why things like that happen and we just have to trust that," Crean said.

The Hoosiers are now staring down a Big Ten season without its go-to player. They play Michigan at noon on New Year's Eve.

The team must replace a player that led the team in points, minutes, 3-pointers made and steals.

Freshman forward Christian Watford said the team can't lose momentum because of the injury.

"We just have to go forward," Watford said. "We just have to progress and keep moving up. We've got guys that can step in and make plays."

One of those players, Jones discussed the possibility of his playing a bigger role.

"It has to be a team effort," he said. "One through five and our bench has to pick it up."

For one night, though, the focus remained on Creek.

"This is going to be a real challenge for a bunch of young guys," Crean said. "There's a lot of down guys in that locker room right now."

Crean added that the rest of the players must mature - a theme he has emphasized previously - in a bigger way now.

"Just like in football, it's next man up," Crean said. "Everybody has to do more."

Creek lay on the court for a few minutes while trainers and teammates - many of them with distressed looks - circled around him underneath the basket. The Assembly Hall crowd of 11,138, previously enjoying a comfortable 60-24 lead, fell silent and never regained its energy for the remainder of the game.

A few minutes after he fell, Creek was carted off the court.

Crean said he's endured this situation before, noting the season-ending injury of Marquette star Travis Deiner a few years ago.

"When you love your guys, you never get used to it," Crean said.