Gordon, Hoosiers top Illini

Gordon 1, Weber 0.\nWhile both coaches said Sunday afternoon’s matchup between IU and Illinois was just another game, there was intensity surrounding the first meeting between freshman guard Eric Gordon and Illinois coach Bruce Weber.\nIn the first go-around, the No. 10 IU men’s basketball team prevailed 62-58 in a game that came down to the final few seconds.\nLeading by two with 33 seconds to play, sophomore guard Armon Bassett missed an off-balance shot, giving Illinois a chance to win the game.\nIllinois guard Demetri McCamey drove to the basket for the tying score when senior guard A.J. Ratliff blocked the ball out of bounds, giving Illinois one final chance.\nOn the inbound play, Illinois forward Brian Randle missed an open 3-pointer which led to a scramble for the loose ball.\n“The game is on the line,” senior forward D.J. White said of the final defensive stand. “We want the ball to win, and we played hard getting after the ball.”\nEventually, Bassett ended up with the ball and was fouled. The sophomore hit his two free throws to ice the game for the Hoosiers.\nDespite playing just 18 minutes, Bassett’s play was instrumental in the Hoosier victory Sunday, Sampson said. The sophomore has been limited in action recently due to a bone chip injury in his ankle, but gave IU a boost off the bench with his defense, ball-handling and clutch three-point shooting in the second half.\n“Bassett was huge,” Weber said. “He made some big ones down the stretch.”\nThe Hoosiers shot just 38.8 percent from the field, including 28.6 percent from beyond the arc, as the offense never seemed to click against one of the better defending teams in the Big Ten.\n“I think the sign of a pretty good team is finding ways to win games when you are not on top of your game,” Sampson said. “I don’t think we played as well as we’re capable of playing.”\nGordon seemed anxious in the first few minutes of the contest, committing a turnover and missing his first three shots before hitting his first basket nine minutes into the game. The freshman had a game-high 17 points on 4-10 shooting from the field. \n“I was pretty excited,” Gordon said. “I knew this would be a big game for us, but we looked at it like another Big Ten game.”\nHad his initial commitment to Illinois stood– Gordon de-committed from the Illini in October 2006 – he could have been in the visitors’ orange and blue at Assembly Hall. The Indianapolis native decided to stay in the Hoosier state after Sampson took over the struggling program from Mike Davis.\nWeber did not have any direct interaction with his former star-recruit Gordon, as he did not shake hands with the IU players after the game.\nRegardless of Weber’s feelings toward Gordon, Sampson said he was pleased with the way his team responded.\n“Bottom line is we found a way to win the game,” Sampson said. “That’s what this thing is all about.”