Forward motion

When IU forward Mike White entered Saturday's 76-61 win over Michigan, he did so much later than he's gotten used to.\nWhite has seen a bump in his playing time since IU's road win over Connecticut more than a week ago, but missed out on first-half action Saturday for the first time in a week. IU coach Kelvin Sampson waited until midway through the second half to insert the junior college transfer. \nOnce White climbed into the game, though, he made his presence felt. \nIn eight minutes of play, White scored six points on 2-of-3 shooting, pulled down two rebounds, emphatically blocked two shots and ripped a steal. \n"Mike didn't play the first half and I think he got upset," Sampson said. "I kind of like that. I think he went in there and said 'I'll show you,' which is good. You have to have the right attitude to be able to approach things like that.''\nThat approach is part of IU coach Kelvin Sampson's plan for his frontcourt, as White, freshman Xavier Keeling and former starter Ben Allen, gradually notch more and more minutes in unselfish support of the starting duo of Lance Stemler and D.J. White. \n"Mike was huge," Stemler said. "He came in with great attitude. He just came in there and hustled and blocked shots and did everything we needed him to do." \nKeeling played eight minutes as well Saturday, but he didn't have to wait until the second half to see the court. \nSampson called Keeling's name with 16:17 left in the first half, and the forward responded with spirited play -- even if he might have been a bit flustered at his early appearance. \nKeeling came through with a tough offensive rebound in his first few minutes, but that came after a giveaway to Michigan guard Lester Abrams who converted the steal into a 3-point play after Keeling fouled him. \nOnce Keeling settled down, Sampson was happy with the freshman's play. \n"X (Xavier Keeling) was the most surprised guy in the gym when I put him in I think," Sampson said. "He looked like a ball of fire that first 30 seconds, didn't he? Nice pass to the Michigan kid, though. He hit him right in the hands, he led him, and the kid finished well, too.\n"So I asked him, 'You ready now, or do you need to throw a couple more passes to the guys in blue? We're wearing white, son.'"\nKeeling and White weren't the only forwards Sampson brought off the bench Saturday. Sophomore Ben Allen, who began the season in the starting five, saw six minutes of action thanks to some inspired play in practice recently, Sampson said.\nAllen had a difficult time Saturday though, going 0-1 from the field. He had three fouls and two turnovers. \nSampson, who last week said he hadn't given up on Allen, despite the forward's drastically reduced role, didn't seem discouraged. \n"Ben's been having some good practices," Sampson said. "Do you remember the foul they called on Ben when he was really doing a nice job posting up? That's a tough foul. He's doing a great job. He's stealing and sitting down and moving his feet and creating space. But maybe the referee thought he was creating too much space. So that's two more free throws"