IU beats Ohio State behind D.J. White’s 21 points

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The No. 14 IU men’s basketball team showed no signs of an emotional hangover after last Thursday night’s game against Illinois as the Hoosiers won their second-straight road game in Columbus Sunday, defeating Ohio State 59-53.\nAfter the game, IU coach Kelvin Sampson said the coaching staff had some concern there could have been a let down from such a young team after a tough game. The Hoosiers defeated Illinois in double overtime just three days prior to the game against Ohio State.\nFreshman guard Eric Gordon said he was exhausted in the days after the Illinois game – where he was the center of attention in his first visit to Champaign since he broke his verbal commitment to the Illini.\n“I was real worn out,” Gordon said of the days following the Illinois game. “I think I played like 45 minutes out of the 50, but it was a tough game.”\nGordon showed no signs of fatigue against Ohio State as the freshman played 35 minutes, scoring 15 points in the process. \nSenior forward D.J. White shined again for IU in a matchup with 7-foot center Kosta Koufos. White tallied another double-double for the Hoosiers, scoring 21 points and pulling down 13 rebounds.\nIU played a 2-3 zone exclusively against the Buckeyes who, Sampson said, are the best team in the Big Ten at spreading the floor. The defense worked and slowed down Buckeye sharpshooter Jamar Butler, who went 2-8 from the floor and scored just four points.\n“Every shot he took he is capable of making,” Sampson said of Butler. “The only thing we tried to do was to make sure that we did not go under any of those on-ball screens.”\nWith the Hoosiers leading 29-21 at the half, Ohio State responded out of the locker room with an 8-2 run that cut the IU lead to two points – the closest the Buckeyes would get to IU for the rest of the afternoon.\nThe Hoosiers countered Ohio State’s run with a 9-0 run of their own, increasing the IU lead to 11 points with 13:14 left on the clock. White said he was proud of the way his team stayed calm after letting its lead evaporate to start the second half.\n“I think we’re growing up,” White said. “Earlier in the year if we would have took a hit, we would have never bounced back. But we took a hit and kept going.”\nThe Hoosiers never relinquished the lead, but the Buckeyes kept the game close until the final horn. IU took care of the basketball, committing just seven turnovers and taking quality shots for most of the game. Sampson praised his team’s patience on the offensive side of the floor.\n“Sometimes you have to take what the defense gives you,” Sampson said. “I thought our shot selection was really good.”\nAfter the game, Sampson said he is happy with the improvement his team has shown throughout the past few games. He said players were finding their roles and cited the matured play of freshman guard Jordan Crawford. Crawford scored just eight points against the Buckeyes but contributed a career-high seven assists to the win.\n“This team keeps improving,” Sampson said. “This was probably a kind of slow-developing team by anybody’s standards, but we are starting to get better.”