When Maurice Creek – the Colonials’ team leader and feel-good resurrection story – finished his college career with an air ball in the final seconds of an NCAA Tournament game, I figured it’d be the last shot I would ever see him take.

But when the 6-foot-5 guard strode into the Lerner Health and Wellness Center last week, I got a glimpse of Creek up close. I saw a side of him and his game that gets lost when you’re watching games from behind a laptop screen.

I covered graduate student Creek all season long from the sidelines. From his 17-point GW debut in an exhibition against Bowie State, to the last-second jump shot against Maryland that cemented him as the face of GW men’s basketball, to the last shot that he would ever take as a Colonial against Memphis.

By the end of the year, I thought I had a good grasp on both Creek’s story and who he was as a player. That is, until Creek unexpectedly walked into Lerner Health and Wellness Center on Thursday to play pickup basketball with a group of us who were just looking for a way to kill time.

We all tried to hold back the glee of playing on the same court as the former top-100 recruit who outscored John Wall when Indiana played Kentucky. This seemed like an opportunity that would only be attainable through some auction by the GW athletics department.

But my excitement came with a bit of confusion.

It had been less than a week since that final shot, which surely has replayed in his mind hundreds of times since the final buzzer sounded. Yet he was already back on the court, and playing with a bunch of amateurs wasn’t beneath him.

Creek, obviously, stood out on the court. While the majority of us looked like we had rolled out of bed and stumbled to the gym, Creek looked like he was suited for practice with Mike Lonergan. He donned his full GW practice gear, complete with a practice jersey, knee supports and ankle bandages surrounding his pencil-thin legs.

When play began, Creek was simply unstoppable. The guard put on a shooting clinic, an easy extension of the 14.1 points per game he averaged in his lone season as a Colonial. Most impressive was Creek’s shot release. I already knew that Creek’s shot was quick, which allowed him to sneak the ball past opponents all season long, leading to his 80 made three-point field goals on the season.

Against amateur defenders Thursday, I realized just how special both Creek’s shot and range were. Defenders were constantly in Creek’s face trying to prove to the rest that they could stop a member of the Atlantic 10 all-conference third team. Creek’s approach almost became repetitive, a dribble fake that would create enough space for him to shoot a jump shot from beyond the arc.

Creek hit mind-boggling shots all night – off-balanced shots, three-point attempts from close to half court, and acrobatic shots on drives to the rim. Defenders were pleasantly puzzled.

Of course, Creek wasn’t perfect, as he succumbed to throwing the occasional errant pass or dribbling the ball off his leg out of bounds. Those flashes of humanity made us all feel a bit better, too.

But after every impressive shot that Creek made, which meant nothing more than a point closer to 11 for a meaningless game of pickup – I couldn’t help but wonder, can Creek really be enjoying any of this?

After all, he was only two weeks removed from playing at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, and less than a week removed from playing in front of thousands in Raleigh for the NCAA Tournament.

Despite his superiority on the floor Thursday, Creek treated everyone on the floor as equals, as teammates. Whether it was a player on his team or the opposition, Creek would dish out compliments whenever they were due. (And yes, I’ll take this moment to brag: He complimented me on a pass I made.)

It’s clear that beyond the trick shots and fancy passes, Creek is a fan of the game, who saw his career cut short due to a boatload of misfortune.

After playing with him in a pickup basketball game, I see that Creek wasn’t out in the Smith Center for the glory or the scholarship money. He’s there for the camaraderie of his teammates and the thirst for competition – no matter who he’s facing or what court he’s on.