IU to fight Illini at home Sunday

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.\nInstead of London and Paris, the phrase borrowed from Charles Dickens is a tale about Bloomington and Champaign. The tale of the two cities was authored by freshman guard Eric Gordon and his decision to de-commit from Illinois and commit to IU in October 2006. It was a decision which captured national headlines and severely altered each team’s expectations for the 2007-2008 season.\nIn the three seasons prior to Gordon’s decision, the Fighting Illini had won two conference championships and finished second in the 2005 NCAA Tournament. The Hoosiers, on the other hand, failed to reach the NCAA tournament during two of the years and had its head coach, Mike Davis, resign.\nIU coach Kelvin Sampson replaced Davis and soon secured Gordon’s commitment, a move which won over the Hoosier faithful before Sampson had coached a single game for the cream and crimson.\nWhen the No. 10 Hoosiers (13-1) host Illinois (8-8) Sunday afternoon at Assembly Hall, the role reversal will be backboard-clear between the two conference rivals.\nIU heads into Sunday’s contest riding a nine-game winning streak and a national ranking while Illinois has dropped five out of eight games heading into Thursday night’s game at No. 21 Wisconsin.\nWhile the Fighting Illini have struggled of late, Sampson said that Illinois will pose a test for his team.\n“I know they’ve struggled as of late, but every team will struggle during the season,” Sampson said. “Its not like they are getting blown out, they could have won every one of those games.”\nIllinois has continued to play strong defense despite losing games – the Illini rank fifth in the Big Ten in scoring defense, allowing 61.4 points per game. The Illini defense will be a challenge for the Hoosiers, Sampson said. \n“They are as good as man-to-man as there is in the conference,” Sampson said. “It starts with (Chester) Frazier.”\nIllini senior Shaun Pruitt will give the Hoosier big men trouble on both ends of the court. Pruitt is averaging 12.6 points a game and grabs 8.1 rebounds a game, fourth in the Big Ten conference.\nPruitt averaged 9.2 points and 9.3 rebounds last year in three games against IU during which Illinois went 2-1.\n“We had a lot of problems with Pruitt last year,” Sampson said. “I think he is one of the best big guys in this league. Plus he is a senior.”\nThe rebounding battle between Pruitt and senior forward D.J. White should be one of the more interesting subplots of the game. White is the leading rebounder in the Big Ten and is coming off a career-high 22 rebounds against Michigan. The duo was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated earlier this season when the magazine recognized Indiana and Illinois as one of the rising rivalries in the country.\n“I know 22 rebounds again is probably unlikely,” White said. “I hope to do it again sometime, but I just need to play like I’ve been playing, play with confidence, play hard.”