D.J. White notches career-high in win

On the strength of senior forward D.J. White’s best performance of the season, the No. 15 IU men’s basketball team held on for a 84-72 victory over Tennessee State.\nThe Hoosiers came away with the win, but not without paying a price, as freshman guard Eric Gordon went down with an injury toward the end of the first half. Gordon has been diagnosed with a bruised tailbone, but IU coach Kelvin Sampson said he expects Gordon to return to action Saturday against Kentucky.\nGordon scored eight points, 18 points fewer than his season average, on 1-of-4 shooting in just 12 minutes of action before sustaining the injury.\nWith IU’s first scoring option out, it was up to White to become the team’s primary offensive weapon. White, who was named Big Ten Player of the Week on Monday, scored 20 first-half points on a perfect 8-8 shooting from the field in the first frame. \n“I had to step up,” White said. “When (Gordon) went down we all knew we had to step up our play.”\nTo Tennessee State coach Cy Alexander, White “was the difference” in the game.\nThe senior forward scored a career-high 29 points on 11-16 shooting. White tallied his forth double-double of the season by grabbing 13 rebounds.\n“I think D.J. is starting to take pride in the double-double,” Sampson said.\nIU took control early, jumping out to a 16-point lead in the first nine minutes of the contest. The Hoosiers kept the lead in the teens for the remainder of the half, taking a 13-point advantage into the locker room.\n“I couldn’t have asked for a better 17 minutes to start the game,” Sampson said. “Our defense was outstanding.”\nHowever, without Gordon, the Hoosiers struggled at times offensively in the second half. The Tigers began running a full-court press which forced several IU turnovers because of “sloppy ball handling” and brought the game within seven points with eight minutes remaining in the game. \n“I was worried about the second half a little, especially when E.J. went down,” Sampson said.\nWith seven minutes remaining, IU began to pull away thanks to two consecutive three-pointers from senior forward Lance Stemler. The shots stretched the Hoosier lead to 11 points. The Tigers never got the deficit back into single digits.\nSenior forward Mike White logged a season-high 30 minutes, scoring 11 points and grabbing eight rebounds.\nTennessee State guard Bruce Price kept the Tigers in the contest throughout the evening, scoring a game-high 34 points, including seven 3-pointers from long range.\n“He’s tough, isn’t he?” Sampson said. “You have to respect a kid like him. He was the toughest guy on court tonight.”\nIn the end though, IU was able to withstand Price and the Tigers, completing a grueling stretch of seven games in 15 days with different players missing time for suspension or illness. The Hoosiers now look to get some rest and focus on school before Saturday’s showdown with the Wildcats.\n“We really needed to get through this game tonight,” Sampson said.