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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The frustration of losing finally caught up with injured guard Maurice Creek after last Wednesday’s defeat at Purdue.

As his Indiana teammates shuffled into the locker room, Creek sat down, put his head in his hands and cried.

“It has been really tough,” said Creek, who was IU’s leading scorer before suffering a season-ending knee injury Dec. 28. “When the game is taken away from you, it gets emotional. Especially when your team is going down in the water. I want to help my team, but I know that right now that isn’t possible.

“But I also know that this isn’t the end of the road, but rather just a bump in the road. When I keep it in the proper perspective, it helps me get excited about the possibilities moving forward.”

Creek got a glimpse of the future last Saturday in Assembly Hall, as his freshman teammates scored 63 points in an 88-80 overtime win against Northwestern.

Jordan Hulls made eight 3-pointers. Derek Elston had 17 points. Christian Watford had 14 points and 11 rebounds.

“I know these guys better than anyone, and I know what we’re capable of doing as a team and because of that I think our future is bright,” Creek said. “But it was definitely fun to see all of that come together on Saturday.”

Creek hopes to see a repeat performance today when the No. 10-seeded Hoosiers (10-20) face No. 7 Northwestern (19-12) in the Big Ten Tournament at Conseco Fieldhouse. The winner plays No. 2 Purdue on Friday.

When the season ends, Creek said he can’t wait to rejoin teammates and start preparing for 2010-11. He shook his head no when asked if Watford might transfer. Others, himself included, also have been targets of transfer speculation.

“He’ll be back. We’ll all be back,” Creek said. “We will be moving forward together next year, there’s no doubt in my mind. It’s a chemistry thing. We’re together every day. Even if it’s car rides or going to get something to eat. . . . We talk all the time and that’s why we’re so close. We know what each other needs to do to improve and we talk about that.

“And we talk about how we want to help build this thing together.”

Through a 4-14 Big Ten season, Creek sat on the IU bench with a clipboard, keeping statistics. He also offered advice. Almost a player-coach? “I guess that makes me a player-coach next year,” Creek said, smiling. “I can at least call myself that now. They’ll be on me even harder because they’ll know I’ve seen the game this year, I just haven’t played it. I think they’ll be looking for me to do different things that I didn’t even do this year, and I’ll be ready for it.”

The 6-5 shooting guard from Oxon Hill, Md., averaged 16.4 points before the injury, including a career-high 31 against Kentucky. He expects to begin practicing at full strength in late June or early July.

Creek apparently hasn’t lost his shooting touch. Assistant coach Benny Seltzer challenged him to a 3-point shooting contest after Saturday’s game. Seltzer made 13 in a row and felt good.

Creek then made 31 consecutive 3s.

“Ask him how many of those hit the rim. I heard it was only two,” said IU coach Tom Crean, as he passed Creek being interviewed by reporters.

“I think it was two,” Creek said, smiling. “We both shot a few and I was struggling at first, but then we started talking trash and then the competitiveness came out in me and I had hit 31 straight and I think I surprised him a little bit. He’s still trying to catch me, but he’s not going to.

“But that’s having a great coach. Some places you wouldn’t even see a coach who was that competitive to push you that far to see what you’re going to do. But he actually did that and I thank him for that, too.”