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(01/25/08 5:54am)
So what if the IU men’s basketball team didn’t match its scoring average during its game against Iowa on Wednesday night? \nThe way their defense played, the Hoosiers didn’t need that many points. \nThe No. 7 Hoosiers allowed fewer points to Iowa than any other opponent this season during their 65-43 win against the Hawkeyes Wednesday at Assembly Hall. \nIU coach Kelvin Sampson said he was “proud” of his team’s defensive effort. \n“We’re getting better in that area,” he said after the game. “Whatever happens is a by-product of our defense and our rebounding.”\nFreshman guard Eric Gordon led the Hoosiers defensively with four steals and three blocks in the win. The Hoosiers forced 20 turnovers overall, while the Hawkeyes made just 15 shots in the game. Iowa shot 34.1 percent from the field, compared to IU’s 53.2 percent mark.\nIU limited Iowa to 17 points in the second half on 21.4 percent shooting.\nWith its win against Iowa, IU won its second game to sweep the season series. The Hoosiers (17-1, 6-0) beat the Hawkeyes (9-11, 2-5) 79-76 to open conference play on Jan. 2 in Iowa City, Iowa.\nIU senior forward D.J. White attributed the defensive swing to a good film session approaching Wednesday’s game.\n“We were more aware of what they were doing,” White said after the game, adding that the team focused on defending Iowa’s ball screens.\nWhite led the Hoosiers in scoring with 19 points and grabbed four rebounds in the game. Gordon added 17 points in the win. \nIU’s previous defensive low came against Coppin State during a 73-46 win in December. \nThe win stretched IU’s home winning streak to 29 consecutive games. Its last loss came on Feb. 11, 2006, when the Hawkeyes topped IU 70-67.\nIU had a hard time separating itself from the Hawkeyes in the first half. Though the Hoosiers were always in command of the game, their only double-digit lead in the first half came when junior forward DeAndre Thomas sunk a short jumper to beat the buzzer and send his team into the locker room with a 37-26 lead. \nIU’s 37 first-half points were more than conference rival No. 10 Michigan State scored all game against the Hawkeyes when the two met in Iowa City earlier this month. Iowa handed the Spartans a 43-36 loss, Michigan State’s second on the year.\nWhite led all scorers in the first half with 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting in the opening frame. The Hoosiers were buoyed by a favorable 10-5 first-half assist-to-turnover ratio while Iowa posted just four assists to 11 turnovers. \nIt took a while for the Hoosiers to pour it on the Hawkeyes – IU picked up five turnovers in the first 10 minutes of the second half – but once IU’s offense started rolling, it put the game out of reach. A flurry of scoring and defensive stops increased IU’s lead to 19 points at about the 9 minute mark in the second half. A few minutes later, the Hoosiers increased the margin to 20.\nIn total, IU posted 13 assists to 14 turnovers, while Iowa had six assists and 20 turnovers.\n“I still think this team’s going to continue to improve,” Sampson said.
(01/23/08 5:01am)
For the first time since 1999, former IU All-American Steve Alford won’t lead the Iowa Hawkeyes into Assembly Hall to face the IU men’s basketball team. \nAlford, who led IU to its fifth and most recent National Championship in 1987, coached the Hawkeyes from 1999-2007 and left after last season when he accepted a job at New Mexico. \nAlford said he always enjoyed his trips back to Bloomington, and that might be because Alford found moderate success as a coach against his former team. He was only 2-6 in all his trips to Assembly Hall, but those two wins came within his last three years at Iowa. Overall, he was 8-6 against the Hoosiers, including two wins in Big Ten Tournament play.\nBut the man replacing Alford on the bench is familiar with the Hoosiers, too.\nTodd Lickliter, like Alford, is a native Hoosier. Lickliter graduated from the same high school (North Central, Indianapolis) as current IU star freshman Eric Gordon. Lickliter coached at Butler from 2001-2007.\nAlford and Lickliter have more in common than that, though. Alford handed IU its most recent home loss when the Hawkeyes topped IU 70-67 in 2006. Lickliter handed Sampson his first loss as Hoosier coach when Butler knocked IU out of the Preseason NIT with a 60-55 win last year at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
(01/22/08 5:54am)
Penn State’s recipe for sticking with the Hoosiers?\nDon’t give them anything for free.\nThe Nittany Lions limited the Hoosiers to their fewest free throw attempts in Assembly Hall this season. IU took just 17 free throw shots during Sunday’s 81-65 win against Penn State. Heading into the contest, the Hoosiers averaged 25.8 per game. \n“We were just trying to play our zone and keep them away from the basket,” Penn State coach Ed DeChellis said. “We were trying to make them make perimeter jump shots.” \nFrom the 1:13 mark in the first half until the 8:27 mark of the second half, IU did not shoot a single free throw. During that almost 12-minute stretch, the Nittany Lions equaled IU’s scoring production – 24 points.\nIn the closing 8:27, IU shot seven free throws and outscored Penn State 23-9 to ice the game. \nPenn State’s zone defense – used in part to force perimeter shooting and limit fouls committed – hindered IU’s ability to drive to the basket.\nPenn State used a 2-3 zone and a 1-3-1 zone combined with a smaller lineup to mitigate IU’s physical and athletic advantages. \n“Automatically you see a zone, some people get a little bit passive,” sophomore guard Armon Bassett said. \nInstead of penetrating the zone, the Hoosiers settled for perimeter shots and were successful at that. IU ended the game 11-of-23 from behind the 3-point line. \nBut it was only when they were successful from the foul line that the Hoosiers put away a pesky Penn State team. \n“At the end of the day, you have to make shots,” IU coach Kelvin Sampson said. “You have to get to the free-throw line.”\nIn the past, Sampson has said his team’s success at the free throw line would be a big component of IU’s offense.\nIt has been a big component in star freshman Eric Gordon’s arsenal.\nFollowing Sunday’s game, Gordon was tied for third nationally for most made free throws (116), trailing only North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough (153) and Niagara’s Charron Fisher (126). Gordon had double-digit free-throw attempts in nine of the 15 games he has played and averaged 8.8 free-throw attempts per game heading into the Penn State game.\nOn Sunday, the freshman didn’t take a foul shot until 5:28 remained in the game. \nGordon went 4-of-4 from the charity stripe Sunday.\nAfter the game, Gordon said he still needed to find his groove on his jump shot, adding that he had been in a shooting slump for the two games prior to Sunday’s win. \n“I always have good confidence in shots,” he said. “I just need to relax and let it flow.”\nInstead of slashing and driving toward the basket, he did most of his damage from beyond the arc, shooting 5-of-11 from behind the 3-point line. He finished with a game-high 25 points.
(01/18/08 6:09am)
Last year, Kelvin Sampson and Tubby Smith were good friends coaching teams that are bitter rivals. Now, they’re good friends coaching conference rivals.\nSmith, then the coach at Kentucky, bested Sampson last season when the Wildcats topped the Hoosiers 59-54 in Rupp Arena. \nBut Smith left Lexington, Ky., last year for colder pastures. \nHis new team, the Minnesota Golden Gophers, will host Sampson’s No. 9 Hoosiers today in the pair’s first matchup as Big Ten coaches.\nSmith’s Minnesota team has surprised many by jumping out to a 12-3 start this season. But it came as no surprise to Smith’s good friend Sampson.\n“Looking at Minnesota going into the year, that was one of the teams that a lot of people thought had a chance to be pretty good because of their seniors,” Sampson said after IU’s 62-58 win against Illinois. \nSampson and Smith’s friendship dates back to their early coaching days when Sampson was a student teacher at a junior high school in Raeford, N.C., the same town where Smith was the high school basketball coach. Their relationship, which became well publicized when IU and Kentucky squared off last year, has produced just two head-to-head matchups – last year’s game and a 1994 contest where Sampson, then coach of Oklahoma, beat Smith, then coach of Tulsa, 76-61.\nConsider tonight’s game as somewhat of a rubber match. \n“Minnesota’s a good team,” Sampson said. “That will be one of the tough stops on the road in the league.”\nIU fans know all too well how cruel Williams Arena, or “The Barn,” can be to the cream and crimson.\nThe Hoosiers have won just two of the past 10 games played in the Barn, dating back to Bob Knight’s reign in Bloomington.\nSampson acknowledged Minnesota, who improved to 3-1 in conference play with a road win over Penn State Saturday, will be ready to feed off the home crowd.\n“I just like they way they play,” Sampson said during a teleconference with reporters Monday. “They play with a lot of confidence. I’m sure playing at home in front of their crowd coming off a big road win, they’ll have a lot of momentum.”\nSampson is particularly impressed with Minnesota seniors forward Dan Coleman , center Spencer Tollackson and guard Lawrence McKenzie, who have led the Gophers to their best start since the 2000-2001 season. \n“They have really good seniors,” Sampson said. “Those three guys have started there for a while.”\nSmith returned the gushing when the topic of IU freshman guard Eric Gordon, the conference’s leading scorer, came up in Monday’s teleconference. \n“In Eric Gordon, you have one of the best freshmen in the country, if not one of the best players,” Smith said.\nAnd as more and more people realize how good the Hoosiers can be with Gordon playing well, IU will have to be more vigilant to prevent upsets, said IU senior guard A.J. Ratliff after the Illinois game. \n“Every night we play it’s going to be a big game because everybody’s going to be coming at us,” Ratliff said. \nTonight, “The Barn” is \nno exception.
(01/18/08 5:58am)
MINNEAPOLIS – In just two years at IU, Lance Stemler has played several roles. Last year he played the victim, sustaining a concussion after he was accidentally kicked in the head by former teammate Xavier Keeling during practice. He needed surgery after last season when he injured his ankle. He was booed by IU fans earlier this season for a slow start. \nOn Thursday, Stemler played the hero.\nHis team down two with less than two minutes remaining in the game, the senior forward and co-captain drained a crucial, uncontested 3-pointer to give the Hoosiers a lead they never relinquished.\nStemler’s three proved to be the dagger that finished a persistent Minnesota team en route to the No. 9 IU men’s basketball team’s 65-60 win – its third consecutive Big Ten road victory.\n“(Assistant) coach (Dan) Dakich said just keep with it and big shots are going to come,” Stemler said after the game. “I got open.”\nStemler’s late-game heroics saved an IU team that struggled, as its leading scorer, freshman guard Eric Gordon, was icy from the field. Gordon, who averages 23 points per game, scored just 12 in the contest, shooting 3-of-8 from the field. The win was IU’s third in the past 11 tries at Minnesota’s famed Williams Arena, also known as “The Barn.” \nAfter the game, IU coach Kelvin Sampson praised Stemler. \n“He doesn’t measure up real high on the athleticism scale, but he has a big heart,” Sampson said. \nIU was led in scoring by senior forward D.J. White, who finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds. It was White’s fifth consecutive double-double and his 11th in 12 games.\n“We found a way, that’s the main thing at the end of the day,” White said. \nThe Hoosier committed 26 turnovers in the contest, though they averaged just 14.5 coming into the game. The Hoosiers’ countered their sloppy ball handling by posting a 42-26 rebounding advantage against the Golden Gophers. \n“Weird game,” Sampson said. “Twenty-six turnovers. Found a way to win on the road – I don’t know that I’ve ever been around anything quite like that.” \nThe lone bright spot from the turnover debacle, Sampson said, was that most of the errant passes landed out of bounds and not in the hands of Minnesota players.\nRegardless, Stemler said it was tough to watch the turnovers.\n“It’s frustrating, but it’s a learning process,” Stemler said. “We all know that.”\nThe Hoosiers survived first half foul trouble to lead the Gophers 40-32 at halftime. \nGordon picked up his second foul of the night at the 17:32 mark and sat on the bench until after the second TV timeout at the 12-minute mark. He tallied two assists quickly after his return, but didn’t score his first bucket until the 6:58 mark. \nA little more than a minute later, he committed his third foul of the game and was banished to the bench for the rest of the half. Even with Gordon sitting, the Gophers could not put IU away. Every time Minnesota climbed out to a lead, the Hoosiers countered and closed the deficit. \nLuckily for the Hoosiers, fellow freshman Jordan Crawford stepped up for the inconsistent Hoosiers. After a rough start, Crawford drained 3-pointer after 3-pointer to lead the Hoosiers with 14 first-half points. \n“EJ (Gordon) was in foul trouble, so I just tried step up” Crawford said. “Of course, scoring is what he does best. So I just tried to help the team.” \nIU managed to keep Minnesota at bay to start the second half. Whenever the Gophers made a big play, the Hoosiers countered to quell Minnesota’s growing momentum. But the Hoosiers never managed to push their lead any larger than five points. \nThat allowed the Golden Gophers to stay in the game long enough to scare the Hoosiers. Minnesota took their first lead of the second half at the 7:35 mark and increased their lead to four after forward Dan Coleman converted an old-fashioned 3-point play less than a minute later. That energized the sell-out crowd at “The Barn.” \nBut a stingy IU defense didn’t allow the lead to grow any larger than four, which allowed IU to eventually take the lead, and the game, from Minnesota.
(01/14/08 5:39am)
Armon Bassett, IU’s sophomore guard, has an interesting way of describing the physical stature of teammate A.J. Ratliff. \n“He’s 6’2”, but he’s 7-foot,” Bassett said. \nSeven foot, horizontally, that is. And Bassett isn’t implying that Ratliff’s fat, either. \nRatliff used his 6-foot-11 wingspan to block Demetri McCamey’s layup attempt with 14 seconds left to preserve IU’s two-point lead en route to the Hoosiers’ 62-58 win against rival Illinois.\nMcCamey grabbed the ball with time winding down and dribbled down the baseline. \n“We knew from breaking down the tape that he would go baseline,” Ratliff, who is officially listed at 6-foot-3, explained after the game. “He likes to go baseline, so I knew he was going to go baseline. So either I was going to have help or it was going to be one-on-one.”\nMcCamey challenged Ratliff, one of IU’s top defenders, one-on-one and leapt in the air to attempt a reverse layin. Ratliff never let the ball get in the air, stuffing McCamey’s attempt and almost grabbing the ball before it went out of bounds. \nRatliff also got his hand in on a play to force Illini guard Calvin Brock to turn the ball over with three seconds remaining. It was a block that didn’t show up on the stat sheet, but Ratliff made sure to emphasize it to reporters after the game. \nHe was effective offensively, as well. Ratliff hit a big 3-pointer as the first half wound down, and drained another three with 4:29 remaining in the game to give IU its largest lead of the night, six points.\nHis stats might not jump off the page, but Ratliff’s seven points, three rebounds, one block and one steal left him smiling after the game. \n“Such a relief, man,” Ratliff said. “It’s so hard to get back in the groove to where your shot is where it used to be.”\nRatliff was academically ineligible for the first nine games of the season, and missed the next three after he tweaked his ankle. Sunday’s game was only his third of the season, and he was ineffective in the previous two, averaging 2.5 points per game on 22 percent shooting. \n“Coach has been patient with A.J.,” Bassett said after the game. “He hasn’t been hitting his shots. But he’s been playing here, and A.J.’s going to hit shots eventually.”\nLast year, the former Indiana Mr. Basketball averaged 9.3 points per game, but with a slew of talented newcomers this season, his offensive skills weren’t dearly missed. It was his defensive capabilities that the Hoosiers craved early in the season. And those defensive skills helped IU secure a win Sunday. \n“A.J. played well defensively,” IU coach Kelvin Sampson said. “As the games go by, he’ll get better and better.” \nRatliff agreed, adding it might be one more game until he’s back at full speed. \nWith Bassett still nursing bone chips in his ankle, Ratliff will see more and more time. \nAnd if all goes to plan, Ratliff will be back in full force Thursday when the Hoosiers travel to Minnesota.
(01/14/08 3:52am)
So, here's a rundown of how I talked to DeShaun Thomas.
(01/13/08 9:34pm)
Bassett sinks the second. Game over. IU wins 62-58. On a side note, Weber left the court without shaking any IU players' hand.
(01/13/08 9:29pm)
DeShaun Thomas, the top player in the class of 2010, is sitting behind the IU bench right now. He told me he opened up his committment and is on a recruiting visit here in Bloomington. He said he is looking forward to the game and is impressed by IU thus far. Hopefully I can catch up with him after the game.
(01/13/08 8:18pm)
Sitting here in a very crowded IU basketball press room in Assembly Hall. Apparently this is a high interest game. Wonder why...
(01/11/08 5:30pm)
Weber was asked twice what it will be like to face Gordon, the player that originally committed to play in Champaign. Weber avoided any discussion of the recruiting saga and focused on EJ's playing ability instead. Here are the highlights:
(01/11/08 3:49pm)
Whoda thunk so much would come out of an innocent trip to Yogi’s?\nThat’s where then-17-year-old Eric Gordon and his younger brother Evan had dinner with IU coach Kelvin Sampson and players D.J. White and A.J. Ratliff and current Memphis star Derrick Rose on Sept. 2, 2006. \nMaybe Sampson wanted Gordon to try Yogi’s taco salad, the coach’s favorite restaurant meal. Better yet, maybe they just wanted to catch Sampson’s Atlanta Braves in action before the regular season drew to an end.\nIt wasn’t that big of a deal, except for the fact that about one year prior to the meal, Gordon committed to play for Illinois coach Bruce Weber.\nLittle more than a month later, Gordon changed his tune. And his wardrobe. Like a rock star entering a sold-out arena, Gordon announced his college decision simply by strolling into IU’s Assembly Hall decked out in a cream and crimson jumpsuit, igniting 13,000 IU fans who turned out on Oct. 12, 2006, to watch Hoosier Hysteria.\nWhen the No. 10 Hoosiers (13-1, 2-0) host Illinois (8-8, 0-3) on Sunday, Gordon, now 19, will meet eye-to-eye with Weber for the first time since he decommitted. \nBut if you ask Gordon or Sampson, Sunday’s matchup is nothing more than basketball.\n“It’s just another Big Ten game,” Gordon said during a press conference Thursday. “I knew this was going to be a big game that was kind of on me and coach. But it’s just a normal game in the Big Ten that we’re going to have to play.”\n“It’s our third conference game,” Sampson said Thursday. “We are playing Illinois. That’ll be our focus, and I am sure that’ll be their focus, too. Illinois wants to beat Indiana and Indiana wants to beat Illinois. I don’t think there’s anything else that needs to be said.”\nThat didn’t stop Sports Illustrated from calling the Indiana-Illinois college basketball rivalry the hottest in the nation. And it won’t stop reporters from national media outlets from flocking to Bloomington come Sunday.\nPublicly, Weber maintained he was upset another coach would try to recruit an athlete that was already committed to another school.\n“My philosophy, and how I would instruct my staff, is unless a kid goes publicly and announces that he’s decided he will decommit – if that is a word – and go to that school and is looking to open it up, then he’s kind of free game again,” Weber said during Big Ten Media Day in 2006.\nWeber was also upset, ironically, that Sampson never made the phone call to let the Illinois coach know he and the Gordon family had begun a dialogue. \nThe Sampson-Gordon-Weber drama will draw a national audience on CBS with everybody anxiously watching how Weber will react when Gordon, the conference’s leading scorer, makes a big play. Will Weber shake Gordon’s hand after the game? Or for that matter, will he shake Sampson’s?\nSunday is part one of a two-act play. The second act begins when Sampson and Gordon travel to Assembly Hall (the other one) on Feb. 7, and will likely receive a more sour reception than Weber will receive Sunday. And though both Sampson and Gordon will say it’s just another game, Gordon’s been thinking about his trip to Champaign, Ill., since he agreed to play at Indiana. He knows what to expect. \n“A lot of boos,” Gordon told the Chicago Tribune in Oct. 2006. “A lot of them.”\nDuring the interview. he recalled the time when native Hoosier and IU legend Scott May’s son, Sean May, returned to Indiana as a North Carolina Tar Heel in 2004. The IU fans berated May and chanted “Sean May sucks.” When he travels to Illinois, Gordon expects something just as bad, if not worse.
(01/09/08 6:20am)
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – For IU senior forward D.J. White, a double-double is twice as nice. \nWhite eclipsed 20 points and 20 rebounds for the first time in his collegiate career en route to No. 10 IU’s 78-64 win over Michigan. \nThe team captain finished with 21 points and a career high 22 rebounds – the most for an IU player since 1992 and 13th most all-time for a Hoosier. \nAfter the game, White coyly admitted he didn’t think he had such a performance in him. \n“My coaches always get on me about getting a 20-rebound game this year,” he said. “I did it, and now that I did it I know I can do it, so I’ve got to keep going.”\nThe Hoosiers (13-1, 2-0) opened Big Ten play 2-0 on the road for the first time since 2002. Last night marked the only time IU will face Michigan (4-11, 0-3) this year.\nIU freshman guard Eric Gordon led the Hoosiers in first-half scoring with 11 points, but picked up three quick fouls and was forced to sit for the last 8:19 minutes of the half. With Gordon on the bench, the Wolverines picked away at IU’s 14-point lead. \nMichigan outscored IU 18-10 to close out the first half, capped off by Michigan forward DeShawn Sims’ buzzer-beating half-court shot, which energized a generally lethargic Crisler Arena crowd. \n“I didn’t make a big deal out of any of that,” IU coach Kelvin Sampson said after the game. “The way we started the second half was going to be the key to the game.”\nSampson got what he wanted when Gordon and White ignited the IU offense to start the second half.\nThe two stars scored IU’s first 18 points following halftime to give the Hoosiers a lead by the same point total. \nThe Hoosiers never looked back. \nGordon led all scorers with 23 points – four more than fellow freshman phenom Wolverine Manny Harris. \nHarris shot 6-of-15 from the field, including a 1-of-5 tally from behind the arc, while Gordon finished the night 9-of-16 shooting and 4-of-7 from 3-point land. \nAs a team, the Hoosiers shot 44.5 percent and limited Michigan to a 31.7 percent from the field. \nWhite’s 22 rebounds were more than the entire Michigan starting lineups. The Hoosiers outrebounded the Wolverines 51-33.\n“I don’t think people give him enough credit of how good of a big man he is, but he’s really starting to show it now,” Gordon said.\nThe Hoosiers have a four-day rest before hosting Illinois on Sunday. Sampson hopes the rest will allow sophomore guard Armon Bassett to heal from a bone chip injury to his left ankle. Bassett dressed and warmed up with IU, but did not play against Michigan.
(01/08/08 5:51am)
A new year, a new injury.\nArmon Bassett, the team’s starting point guard at the beginning of the season, likely will not play against Michigan today. The sophomore guard chipped bones in his ankle during non-conference play and only played three minutes in the No. 10 Hoosiers’ 79-76 win against Iowa on Jan. 2.\n“Not having him is a blow for us,” IU coach Kelvin Sampson said during a teleconference with reporters Monday.\n“For our team to be as good as it needs to be, Armon needs to be our point guard. He’s our best point guard,” he said.\nSampson said Bassett’s injury could require surgery, though the coach was unsure. \n“He’s getting a lot of treatment, a lot of rehab,” Sampson said. “It’s something that’s going to bother him the rest of the year. He may have to have surgery at some point and be out, or it may get him through to the end of the year. But right now he’s out.”\nThe injury is the latest in a string of incidents that have left the Hoosiers depleted at the guard position this season. \nBassett sat out three games earlier this season while serving a suspension for violating an undisclosed team rule. His suspension followed freshman guard Jordan Crawford’s three-game suspension, also for violating an undisclosed team rule. Crawford returned for IU’s home game against Kentucky, but freshman guard Eric Gordon sat out with a bruised tailbone. Senior guard A.J. Ratliff was academically ineligible for the first nine games of the season and missed the following three with an injured ankle. \nRatliff made his season debut last week against Iowa, playing 15 minutes and scoring two points on 1-of-3 shooting from the field.\nWith Bassett on the bench, Sampson said Ratliff, the only remaining scholarship guard with at least one year’s experience, will have to step up his play. His shaky performance against the Hawkeyes was likely part rust, part lack of confidence, Sampson said. \n“You can tell that’s what’s lacking with him right now,” Sampson said.\nThe Wolverines (4-10, 0-2) broke the Hoosiers’ (12-1, 1-0) 11-game series win streak when they topped IU 58-55 last season in Ann Arbor. \nMichigan lost the majority of its starters from last year, but new coach John Beilein’s squad boasts one of the top freshmen in the Big Ten, Manny Harris. The 6-foot-5 guard is second in the conference in freshman scoring and fifth overall, averaging 16.4 points per game. \nGordon ranks first in both categories, averaging 23.5 points per game. \nBeilein knows his team needs to stop Gordon if he wants to notch his first win in conference play. \nDuring the teleconference, Beilein said the way Gordon shoots and passes the ball is unlike most freshmen. \n“He’s got a lot of the elements that normally (are) more common to a sophomore or a junior,” Beilein said.\nIf IU wins, it would be the first time the Hoosiers started conference play 2-0 on the road since the 2002 Final Four team.
(01/03/08 1:58am)
IU 79-76, FINAL SCORE
(01/02/08 9:51pm)
The Hoosiers are in Iowa City right now. The authors of the IDS Basketblog are in Indiana. Fear not faithful reader(s), we will travel with the team in the future (winter break complicates things for us). But I will be live-blogging the game tonight.
(12/11/07 11:50pm)
With two starting Hoosier guards on the bench and his brother Joe defending him, freshman guard Jordan Crawford put the IU men’s basketball team on his back and carried it to a 70-51 win against rival Kentucky on Saturday.\nCrawford, playing in his first game since serving a three-game suspension for violating an unspecified team rule, scored 20 points in the 19-point victory, the second double-digit win for the No. 15 Hoosiers against the Wildcats in three years. \n“They whipped us in every aspect and did it with a short-handed team,” Kentucky coach Billy Gillespie said. “I don’t take very well to that, but they whipped us.”\nIU freshman guard Eric Gordon did not play due to a back injury he sustained earlier in the week, and sophomore guard Armon Bassett is serving an indefinite suspension for breaking a team rule. \nCrawford’s 20-point performance, a career-high, comes after a “super” week of practice for the freshman guard, IU coach Kelvin Sampson said after the game. \n“A guy can pout,” Sampson said of Crawford. “You make a mistake, coach disciplines you – you can approach that two ways. But I thought he took his discipline like a man.”\nSampson said Crawford was mature about the punishment and tried to learn as much as he could while sitting on the bench. \nIt showed. \nCrawford shot 5-for-10, was 3-for-5 from behind the arc and led the Hoosier offense at point guard in his first career start. \n“I really prepared for it the past week,” Crawford said. “I knew we were going to have guards out. Coach says when you’re tired, don’t turn it over, just pass.”\nHe outplayed his older brother Joe, a senior guard for the Wildcats, who finished the game with 10 points and two turnovers in 37 minutes. \nCrawford had just three turnovers in the contest. He played the game’s first 39 minutes and was relieved by senior guard Adam Ahlfeld with the game well out of reach.\nCrawford said the team was confident heading into the rivalry game despite key absences. \n“Coach said we’re supposed to win those games,” Crawford said. “That’s what this program’s supposed to do, so we went out there like we wasn’t missing nobody.”\nSampson said on Thursday he realized the Hoosiers would have to play without Gordon, though he still held out hope. \n“Game day, they can be a little like Lazarus, now,” he said. “I’ve seen some on game day rise from the dead. There’s not a game more important than a young man’s health. … He and his parents have a lot more say on that, and the doctors, than I do.”\nGordon is averaging 24.3 points per game to lead the team. \nIU senior forward D.J. White also stepped up for IU. He recorded his fifth consecutive double-double, his sixth consecutive double-digit rebound game and his 10th point of 16 on the night eclipsed \nthe 1,000-point total for his \nIU career.\n“A lot of great players have come through this program, and to be in that club means a lot to me,” White said.\nHe is the 41st player to surpass the 1,000-point plateau and sits two points behind current New York Knicks forward Jared Jeffries, 40th on the all-time list for most points as \na Hoosier.\nThe win is IU’s 23rd consecutive victory at Assembly Hall. The Hoosiers have a week off for finals before they host Western Carolina Dec. 15. Senior guard A.J. Ratliff, who is academically ineligible for the first semester, can play his first game against Western Carolina if his grades allow. \nThe three absences at the guard position forced the team to grow up a little bit, \nSampson said. \n“I thought we played tough,” he said. “That was something we knew we had to do today. We had to grow up and be men. … I don’t know if we were great today, but we were tough. Great might come later, but right now I’ll settle for tough.”
(12/09/07 12:36am)
IU coach Kelvin Sampson
(12/08/07 8:41pm)
IU freshman Eric Gordon is wearing an IU warm up top and the candy-striped pants over his No. 23 jersey, but he is not warming up with the rest of this team. Still no official word from anybody from IU.
(12/08/07 8:16pm)
Armon Bassett is wearing a shirt and tie while IU is warming up. Not sure why he is out for sure, though there are rumors on various IU message boards.