Jordan Morgan sat in his hospital room waiting to be wheeled to the operating room for yet another surgery - his third in a year - when he came closest to his breaking point.

The Michigan basketball freshman forward had seen enough needles, enough doctors and enough hospital rooms.

Surrounded by his parents and Michigan athletic trainer John DoRosario, he sat there being drugged up to go into surgery - this time for a shoulder dislocated while diving for a ball in a late February practice.

“By the time the shoulder came around, I was actually a little bit scared, you know,” Morgan said. “I’ve grown tired of needles from having my knee drained and they never bothered me. I used to watch them put the IV in my arms.

“I’m tired of needles. I really didn’t want to do the last one. I had to. But I remember being in the hospital before they drugged me up and wheeled me off and I was just like, ‘Man, I don’t want to do this.’”

He had no choice. In order to play basketball again, to return to the form that had him recruited to Michigan in the first place, he had to endure more surgery.

Since Morgan arrived on Michigan’s campus, he’s been a constant state of recovery and rehabilitation. He estimates he’d been healthy for five weeks his freshman year, a stretch in December and January where he slowly started to rediscover his game following tearing cartilage in his left knee last June. The injury required two surgeries.

Then he collided knees with former Michigan forward DeShawn Sims during practice.

“When you’re injured, it almost seems like the world is going without you almost, and you have to rely a lot on yourself,” Morgan said. “It helps you, when you’re injured like that, it helps you understand the world doesn’t revolve around you and it’s going to keep going whether you’re being successful or not, it’s going to keep going.”

As this reality hit Morgan, he started to look for ways to improve even though he couldn’t train, could barely lift a basketball and still isn’t cleared for full-court play - a process that should be completed in August.

He looked to something he could control - his weight.

While Morgan redshirted and hobbled around campus on crutches, he gave up M&M’s and cookie dough ice cream. For a guy who has a large sweet tooth, this wasn’t always easy.

It was harder when his grandmother would visit from Kentucky with two tubs of ice cream or when he’d visit his parents and they’d have cookies and cakes.

That his roommate, Darius Morris, could eat anything and stay the same weight also proved a challenge. This is the same Morris who saw Morgan through his injury-plagued year, often bringing him lunch and carrying his books while he was on crutches.

Morgan never banned these foods from his apartment, but did often look longingly at Morris whenever he’d eat anything fatty.

“When he wants to lose weight or he feels he’s overweight, he really does a good job of putting himself on a diet,” Morris said. “Kind of like a girl, but actually sticks with it.”

This was a vast change for Morgan, who stayed on a strict diet of salad and grilled chicken for the majority of his first summer in Ann Arbor. He gave up soda and juices in favor of drinking water.

It was something he never considered in high school, as the 6-foot-8 forward ate everything in sight and entered Michigan at 245 pounds.

So while he couldn’t work out, he managed to lose 20 pounds while on crutches.

“I gave up pretty much everything,” Morgan said. “I was thinking, ‘I want to play,’ and I was going to do what it took to play.”

His return comes at a good time. Michigan returns no players over 6-foot-5 with any experience.

It’ll instead rely on Morgan and Blake McLimans - both redshirted as freshmen last year - and incoming freshman Jon Horford to provide height and toughness inside.

“It’s going to be an interesting race to see who will help us first,” Michigan coach John Beilein said. “And down the road who will help us more so we can be versatile as well.

“We need two of those three. It’d be nice to have two of those three really be able to help us but maybe all three can help us.”

Morgan’s route to playing, though, was a bit more painful. And it has left the University of Detroit Jesuit graduate thankful he’s playing and returning to the court in August.

Until then, as he recovers from the shoulder injury that because it kept him off the court, allowed his knee to fully heal, he’ll lift weights, do curls and think about the start of practice in October.

“When you’re on crutches and you first get to college, going to college alone is a big change, and I had to deal with being injured. It was a lot to deal with, and it was hard,” Morgan said. “At the same time it forced me to grow up and to appreciate being able to play more, and it made me want to play more and be that much better.

“So it was tough. Maybe not what I wanted, but I wouldn’t change it.”

Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan basketball for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by e-mail at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow along on Twitter @mikerothstein.