Ratliff leads Hoosier bench, tallies 16 points with cast on left wrist

IU junior A.J. Ratliff played Wednesday night's game against Purdue with a cast on his left wrist. But that didn't stop the guard from coming off the Hoosiers' bench and pouring in 16 points, including a 4-for-4 tab from beyond the arc and a perfect 6-for-6 from the field.\nRatliff and the rest of the IU reserves combined for 46 points during the Hoosiers' 85-58 victory against Purdue.\n"It feels good," Ratliff said of his performance. "I did a lot of shooting this week, a lot of shooting when I was out with that injury. The ball felt good coming out of my hands and my teammates were getting it to me when I was open."\nRatliff injured a ligament in his left wrist during the Hoosiers' Dec. 30 matchup against Ball State. He sat out the first two Big Ten games of the season and was a game-time decision Wednesday night, but Ratliff quickly saw his role change against the Boilermakers.\n"At Ohio State I felt I could have helped the team with defense and making a couple shots down the stretch," Ratliff said. "Against Michigan State I found myself being a fan and I was excited for our guys. I just found myself being a fan."\nDuring Ratliff's absence, IU coach Kelvin Sampson said the team would miss him most on the defensive end. The coach said after the win, that Ratliff gave IU the help they needed.\n"I thought when A.J. was on the floor tonight we were very good defensively," Sampson said. "His length helps him a lot with that … he has pretty good instincts."\nIn addition to Ratliff's performance, freshman guard Joey Shaw notched 19 points in 18 minutes while fellow freshman Xavier Keeling scored seven in 11 minutes of play. The Hoosier reserves outscored the Boilermakers by 38 points in the contest behind a combined 15-for-18 shooting effort from the field. Sampson acknowledged the reserves' effort after the game, especially that of Ratliff and Shaw.\n"That's one of the things that I try to, not that it was a big deal, but try to explain to people that we don't really have a bench," Sampson said. "The method to that madness is to give kids confidence … Shaw and Ratliff could easily be starters. I don't sometimes see a huge difference in our kids."\nEven Purdue coach Matt Painter said he was impressed with the Hoosiers' bench.\n"Joey Shaw was amazing today," the Boilermaker coach said. "He's gonna be a very good player."\nIU improved to 11-4 overall and 2-1 in the Big Ten with the victory and will hit the road to face Penn State on Saturday afternoon in State College, Pa.