IU 111 vs. UNC-Pembroke 62

Overall Team Performance: B- Offense: A; Defense C- Again, the defense looked horrible in the 1st half and you could tell that Sampson was not happy. He even said in his halftime comments that they were only playing defense for 5 or 10 seconds per possession. Apparently, Sampson's half-time "talk" worked because they held Pembroke to 27 points in the second half. I'm confident that Sampson will get them playing defense. He held out Brandon McGee the first half because the coaching staff was not happy with his defensive intensity in practice. McGee responded well in the second half (see below). Injury Update: Bassett tweaked an ankle and did not play in the 2nd half as a precautionary measure. They play their first game in less than 48 hours, so we'll have to see if he is able to go, but it did not sound serious at all. Eric Gordon: A We have to start here tonight because the freshman was outstanding. He scored 8 points in the first 2 1/2 minutes of the game and had all 24 of his points at halftime on 8-10 shooting that included 6-6 from the arc. Simply amazing. Even though he didn't score in the 2nd half (0-3), he still played very well. He played about 10 minutes in the second half and played mostly point guard. Although he only had 3 assists, he really had some great passes and set guys up very well. It just turned out that a lot of the good passes ended up with the shooter getting fouled instead of converting for the assist to be credited. In addition to the 3-balls, Gordon also had a nice reverse lay-in on an alley-oop and had 2 left-handed blocked shots in the 2nd half. I now understand why Bruce Weber's voice is the way it is -- it's because he is still feeling the kick in the balls from losing Gordon. D.J. White: B- D.J. only managed 3 FG attempts and finished with 10 pts, 3 rebs, and 3 blks. Not exactly the line you want from your star big man. But this just wasn't the type of game that D.J. was going to excel in. UNC-Pembroke started 4 guards and a slashing forward and played a packed-in zone for pretty much the whole game. IU launched 30 treys (making 18 of them) instead of getting it down low to D.J. Lance Stemler: B+ Stemler was solid with 6 points, 5 rebounds (including 3 offensive), and several other loose ball plays. That's what we need out of him. Nicely done. Jamarcus Ellis: A- The tale of two halves. Scoreless in the first half, but then exploded for 15 points in the second half. At one point in the second half, Ellis and McGee combined for 21 straight IU points on 8-8 shooting that included 5-5 from the arc. He's not supposed to be much of an outside shooter, but he hit 3-5 from the arc. He's a lefty and while the 3-balls did not quite look Cheaney-esque, they still went in. I don't think that will be his forte, but he also dished out 8 assists in the game, which is another piece of evidence that this guy does it all and fills the stat sheet. 6 steals in the first exhibition game and now 8 assists in the second one. He hasn't done much on the glass yet, but I know he averaged about 7 boards in JuCo ball, so we might see some nights where he fills up that category as well. Of course, we are only going on two exhibition games, but my take on Ellis is that he is a very good defender off the ball (good with help and good in the passing lanes), but seems to struggle defending on-the-ball. I really like this guy. Armon Bassett: A Unfortunately, he tweaked his ankle and did not return, but he looked really good up until that point. He was playing very well with 15 points and 4 steals in just a half of play. His shot was looking very good as he drained 3-5 from downtown. Hopefully, the ankle is not serious, but the good news is that it didn't appear to be and Sampson even said he may have been able to go back in if it was not an exhibition game and they did not have their first regular season game in 2 days. But then again, you never know with these things, he could wake up tomorrow with a lot of pain and swelling. Let's hope not. DeAndre Thomas: B- Normally would get a lower grade, but as mentioned in D.J.'s write-up, this just wasn't the type of game for the big fellas. Jordan Crawford: C+ Well, he definitely came down to earth after that incredible performance in the first exhibition game. He was actually horrendous in the first half. His jumpers were way off the mark, he missed both his foul shots, had some ugly turnovers, and played some bad defense. But then he came back strong in the second half and actually finished 11 points and 6 assists. As mentioned in the player preview, I think we can expect a lot of highs and lows from Jordan this year. Brandon McGee: A If Crawford had the eye-opener performance in the first exhibition game, it was McGee that took that honor in the second exhibition game. Wow, this guy looks really good. As noted above, he did not play at all in the first half because of poor defense in practice. He came in the second half and immediately missed a 3 and then committed a stupid foul on the rebound. At this point, I was thinking that I could see why he seemed to be down the depth chart. From that point forward, he only managed to make 7 of his next 8 shots, which included 4-5 from the arc. And not only did he pour in 18 second half points, he also grabbed 7 rebounds in the second half. I was very impressed for someone who currently stands in the 8-10 range of the rotation. Eli Holman: B+ Word is that Eli has been working very hard before and after every practice. If he keeps up the hard work, stays out of trouble, and keeps his grades up, he could be a special player some day. Again, he is very raw, but he's got long arms and a natural ability to block shots. And even though he is raw and not the smoothest player offensively, he did show-off a nice lefty jump hook tonight and went 3-4 from the field and 2-3 from the line for 8 points in 10 minutes. Go Hoosiers!