Eric Gordon sustains back injury in win

IU men’s basketball star freshman guard Eric Gordon injured his lower back during the first half of IU’s 84-72 win against Tennessee State on Monday, but after the game IU coach Kelvin Sampson said Gordon was OK and will play against Kentucky on Saturday. \nGordon sustained a bruised tailbone after falling to \nthe hardwood.\n“I think they took him for some precautionary X-rays, but he’ll be fine,” Sampson said.\nWith about six minutes left in the half, Gordon drove toward the basket and fell on his backside after passing the ball to senior forward D.J. White. Gordon stood up, grimaced and bent over while grabbing his back. He stayed in the game for about one minute, until he tried to handle the ball on IU’s next possession. With Gordon still grimacing, Sampson called time-out and pulled the freshman from the game. \nGordon sat on the bench for the rest of the half with a pack of ice, wrapped in a towel, snugly resting between his back and a chair. During TV time-outs, with the rest of the team huddled on the court, Gordon remained on the bench with a trainer. \nHe left with the rest of the team at halftime, but stayed in the locker room for the second half.\nGordon was not made available to the media following the game. \n“Even if he could have come in the second half, I wouldn’t have brought him back,” Sampson said, adding Gordon had played all 40 minutes of IU’s two previous games against Southern Illinois and Georgia Tech. \nGordon scored eight points on 1-of-4 shooting in 12 minutes of action on Monday. \nHeading into the game against Tennessee State, Gordon was second in the nation in scoring, averaging 26.6 points per game and 35.3 minutes per game. \nWithout Gordon, White carried the Hoosiers to the win, scoring a career-high 29 points. He also grabbed 13 rebounds to record his fourth consecutive double-double. \n“Me being a senior, I had to step up with our leading scorer, our playmaker, being hurt,” White said. “They kept going to me, so if it was one-on-one, I tried to make an aggressive move. If (they) doubled, I tried to kick it out. When he went down, we all knew we had to step up our play.”\nJunior guard/forward Jamarcus Ellis also had a double-double, scoring 10 points and tallying 10 assists. \nGordon’s absence depleted an already thin IU guard lineup. \nFreshman guard Jordan Crawford served the final game of a three-game suspension he received for breaking an unspecified team rule. Senior guard A.J. Ratliff will sit out against Kentucky, because he is academically ineligible. He can return on Dec. 15 against Western Carolina if he is cleared to play academically. \nFreshman guard Brandon McGee returned to action Monday after missing the previous two games due to an abscess on his tonsil.