After not playing for nearly two years, Maurice Commander makes college comeback. ‘I was pretty emotional.’

It didn’t cause much of a ripple in men’s basketball circles, but it was a huge deal for Maurice Commander.

The former Marist star, who transferred as a senior and graduated from Curie, scored 21 points in 23 minutes on Jan. 4 during Roosevelt’s 77-70 road win over Indiana South Bend.

Just another college game? Not to Commander, who had hip surgery and whose previous game was Feb. 25, 2021.

“It meant a lot more to me than people think,” Commander said of his return. “I was pretty emotional before the game. I was emotional even after the game.

“There was a time when I didn’t think I was going to play basketball again. The golden present for me was to get back on the court and be happy.”

The 6-foot Commander, a Flossmoor resident who grew up in Oak Lawn, headed into Wednesday night’s 75-65 CCAC road loss to St. Xavier averaging 16 points and 3.6 assists.

Commander scored 23 points against the Cougars, including 18 in the second half. Jack Halverson and T.J. Babikir led St. Xavier (22-6, 16-3) with 16 points apiece.

The Cougars, Roosevelt (19-8, 16-3) and Olivet Nazarene (21-6, 16-3) are in a three-way tie for first in the CCAC with one game left in the regular season.

Dee Brown, who helped Illinois to a second-place finish in the NCAA Tournament in 2005 and was named the national player of the year, is Roosevelt’s first-year coach.

Commander, meanwhile, was the East Suburban Catholic Conference’s player of the year as a junior at Marist before transferring to Curie. He played two years in college at Chattanooga and came home to play at Illinois-Chicago.

Then, the plot took a wild twist. The pandemic hit in 2020. Commander’s father, also named Maurice, died before the season started.

“Things were going bad worldly and with my family,” he said. “Basketball kept my head on straight and it was my escape from a lot of stuff.

“I played that season for my dad and I played for myself.”

Hip surgery, however, set him back. He missed last season.

“It was tough for a while,” Commander said. “I wasn’t able to walk or run. Sitting down in class and driving a car — everyday stuff that you would do — didn’t feel normal to me.

“It was painful. I was even questioning if basketball would even be something for me.”

At UIC, Commander formed a relationship with Brown, who was an assistant coach.

As Commander was healing, Long Island showed interest and he committed. But coach Derek Kellogg was fired and DePaul legend Rod Strickland took over.

Commander did not play the first semester and called Brown. Now, he’s back home thriving for Roosevelt.

“When he reached out and said he wanted to come back home and be closer with his family, it was a no-brainer,” Brown said. “It was a big, big, big get for us.

“He’s a Division I talent that came down to the NAIA level and is playing really good basketball. I’m so very grateful we can get a guy like that, on and off the court.”

Commander confirmed he was too young to remember Brown’s heroics but learned a lot from him at UIC.

“I trust him with my career,” Commander said.

Commander, who has one more year of eligibility, is working on a master’s degree focusing on real estate. After that, he’s not sure if he will try to play professionally or head into the working world.

“There’s more to life than bouncing a ball and winning games,” Commander said. “The future will work itself out. We’ll see where it will fall.”

Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.