Maurice Creek could return soon for Indiana, what could he bring?

Tonight, Don Fischer, play-by-play man for Indiana basketball, said on the Indiana/Penn State pregame show that redshirt junior Maurice Creek is only a week away from returning from a right foot injury for the Hoosiers.

Creek’s career in Bloomington has been one collective injury. He’s had every season ended with an injury, with this one being the first that he’ll actually come back to the court, after suffering it in-season.

For his career, Creek, a 6-5 guard swingman who by all means was living up to the hype when he came out of Hargrave Military Academy four years ago, is averaging 9.4 points in 40 games with 25 starts. He’s made the most of his time on the court when he’s been healthy enough to be on it.

I’ll never hold injuries — on the court, anyway — against a player. Giving effort and having your body betray you or an accident put you out isn’t something a player can control most of the time. But it’s really hard to see what Creek will do when he comes back, which, if Fischer is right, will be when the Hoosiers face home games against Minnesota and Wisconsin, consecutively. So if anything, Creek helps the depth.

But, in honor of this being the first time Creek has returned from an injury in a season, let’s look at what Creek could bring that, either Indiana needs or will want more of as they get deeper and deeper into conference play.

Scoring

As a freshman in 2009-10, Creek averaged 16.5 points through the team’s first 12 games, including 31 points against Kentucky. He averaged 8.3 points the next season before that season-ending injury. Then 3.0 points through 10 games this season. I’m going to go out on a whim and predict Creek becomes the Hoosiers fourth scoring option behind Zeller, Oladipo, Watford and Sheehey, edging out Hulls. It may take a week or two, but I could see Creek averaging 10-11 points per game especially on a team that is rife with scorers. And teams doubting his ability with so many injuries.

Experience

Though it feels like we’ve barely been able to see him on the court, Creek has played 40 games and started 25 in his career. He came off the bench for all 10 so far this season, clocking 11.3 minutes per game, but being totally healthy, Creek will be invaluable as a guy on the court in late-game situations. He’s been there and he can assist the elders like Sheehey, Hulls and Watford in settling the team in key situations. In the most talented conference in college basketball, that’s huge.

An additional deep threat

Maurice Creek, shooter? He can hit the outside shot with regularity. Creek was 7-for-20 from three-point range before injury this season. For his career, Creek is 63-for-171, a 36.8-percent clip. Hulls will like that help and in games agaisnt Michigan, he can — try, at least — to keep up with Nik Stauskas.

Good depth

Never be fooled. There’s a difference between “depth” and “good depth”. Pretty simple. Talent separates the two. Creek’s blend of experience, athleticism and talent adds, at the very least, a solid bench threat that coach Tom Crean can rely on when the games get tight.

David Harten is a sportswriter and college basketball blogger. You can follow him on Twitter at @David_Harten.