Former College Basketball Player Recounts Escaping Ukraine Amid Russia’s Invasion

The former Indiana guard was playing for MBC Mykolaiv in Ukraine when Russia invaded.

Former college basketball player Maurice Creek found himself in Ukraine during Russia’s invasion and recounted his experience while trying to get out of the country and back to the U.S. 

“You start really feeling the actual effects of the war,” Creek told ABC News. “Like, I was getting jets going across my building, then I have to go to the bomb shelter and I look on social media, you see one jet hit one lady’s house like with a bomb like you know, with a missile. And it’s like, dude, I’m not sleeping today. I’m not doing that. I’m paranoid, terrified.” 

Creek, who played for Indiana and then George Washington from 2009-14, was playing for the professional basketball team MBC Mykolaiv when Russia invaded. Creek spent last weekend in and out of bomb shelters before arriving to Odessa, but he was able to get to Romania by March 1. He was reunited with his family on Thursday. 

“When he made it here, it was a breath of fresh air. I knew he was safe,” his mother, Pammy Morgan, told ABC News. 

Creek recalled being terrified at night because there were no lights at all in the city because of martial law. He said he still worries for his teammates, who still have to live in such conditions.

“I just pray for them every day and their families,” Creek told ABC News. “Because when I saw them for the last time, I shedded some tears because it’s like not only will I maybe not ever see you again on the basketball level. I may not never see you on the livelihood level because of what’s going on right now.”