Hoosier forward White outshines Buckeye big man in Sunday win

COLUMBUS, Ohio – D.J. White firmly fixed his eyes on Ohio State freshman Kosta Koufos just seconds after Koufos fouled White when the senior forward threw down a two-handed slam. For a second, Buckeye guard Jon Diebler tried to step between the two to prevent anything from happening. Even one official pulled White, IU’s senior forward, aside to try to calm him down. \nAfter the game, White laughed off the incident. It wasn’t that he was angry, or that he wanted to exchange blows with Koufos. \nWhite said it wasn’t even a personal battle. \n“I’m just an emotional player and sometimes I let my emotions get the best of me,” White said. “I just try to go out there every time and just play hard, play with emotion and passion.”\nCall it emotion. Call it passion. White’s coach, Kelvin Sampson, calls it “great.”\n“He’s worth his weight in gold,” Sampson said after IU’s 59-53 win against the Buckeyes. “He’s why this team continues to progress.”\nThe battle heading into the game was between two of the Big Ten’s best big men – White, a 6-foot-9 senior, and the 7-foot freshman Koufos.\nIn the end, it was the senior who came out on top.\nIn the first half alone, White recorded his 15th double-double of the season after grabbing 10 rebounds and scoring 12 points.\nHe finished the game with 21 points, shooting 66.6 percent, and 13 rebounds – six of them at the offensive end. \nWhite said he knew from studying film of Ohio State’s 3-2 defense that the Hoosiers would have a chance to dominate the offensive boards. \n“We knew going into the game that their zone had a lot of holes in it, especially when the ball was in the air,” White said. “So I knew I could get some putbacks if I went to the glass. Zones always have their holes when you rotate the ball, so that’s what our focus going into the game was, offensive rebounding.”\nKoufos, a five-star recruit out of Canton, Ohio, finished the night with 18 points and nine rebounds. \n“He’s a very strong player,” Koufos said of White. “I should have come in more mentally prepared.” \nWhite led all scorers in the game, and also blocked two shots and tallied one steal. \n“He had the energy back like I had seen when he was a freshman,” Ohio State coach Thad Matta said. \nWhite, who has accrued four Big Ten Player of the Week honors, is solidifying his candidacy for Big Ten Player of the Year. White is tops in the conference in rebounding (10.6 rebounds per game) and field goal percentage (61.7 percent on the year), and only is second in scoring to freshman teammate Eric Gordon.