Gordon Hurt, IU Wins 84-72

The big story after this one is the injury to Eric Gordon. With about 6 minutes to go in the first half, Gordon drove the lane, jumped in the air, got twisted around, and fell hard on his back-side. After limping up and down the court once or twice, he came out of the game and did not return. He was clearly in pain and was holding his lower back. After the game, Sampson said Gordon was fine and expected him to be back for the Kentucky game this weekend. Also, Terry Hutchens of the Indy Star reported that he talked to both Eric Gordon Jr. and Eric Gordon Sr. after they returned from the Bloomington hospital for x-rays. They told Hutchens that the x-rays were negative and it was a bad bruise. EJ said he'd be OK, but Hutchens said he was still limping badly. So, it sounds like he should be fine, but the big question is when. Hopefully, he'll be ready for his one and only show-down with Kentucky. Interestingly, Gordon was not playing all that great but the Hoosiers held their biggest lead of the game at 36-17 when he left the game with 6 minutes to go in the first half. That 19-point lead was thanks to a great start by IU where they jumped out to a 17-4 lead in the first 8 minutes of the game. D.J. White was the key to the fast start as he scored 10 of those 17 points on 5-5 shooting. From that point to the point where Gordon got hurt, nothing too exciting but IU continued to slowly build on their lead and it looked like this one was going to be a laugher. Even after Gordon got hurt, it looked like IU was going to cruise. They were still up by 16 when Tennessee State hit a 3 at the first half buzzer to pull within 13 at halftime. Still, nothing to be worried about, but IU did allow Tennessee State to score 18 points in the final 6 minutes of the first half....not good. D.J. White was an absolute beast in the 1st half with 20 points on 8-8 FGs and 6 rebounds. However, the Hoosiers came out sloppy after halftime and suddenly Tennessee State hit a 3 and the lead was down to single-digits at 9 points. Tenn St had a guy by the name of Bruce Price that caught fire and IU could not stop him. However, I would argue that their effort put toward stopping him was pathetic. Let's just hope that Bassett was dead tired from being IU's only guard left standing (Gordon - hurt, Ratliff - suspended, Crawford - suspended). IU played very sloppy the entire 2nd half and the game stayed right around the 9-13 point mark for the first 12 minutes of the 2nd half. Then, with 7 minutes to go, Tenn St hit a 3 and cut the lead to 7. At this point, Tennessee State had outscored IU 41-29 over the last 18 minutes and since Gordon left the game. So, needless to say, IU missed Gordon tremendously. Obviously, he can score points in many different ways, but I am guessing that Sampson would have also challenged EJ to stop this Bruce Price guy and I am guessing Gordon would have done so. And I do think Bassett and Ellis were dead tired. IU was playing their 7th game in 15 days and they were playing this game after getting back from Southern Illinois at 2:30am Sunday morning. Even before Gordon got hurt, Bassett and Ellis were playing about 35 minutes per game without Ratliff and Crawford. Anyway, back to this disgusting 7-point game with 7 minutes to play. The description of what happened next should be prefaced by the fact that Lance Stemler had missed very badly on all 3 of his 3-pt attempts to this point. But when they needed it most, Stemler hit back-to-back 3s to push the lead right back to 13 and then IU kept the lead at 12 points are higher for the rest of the game. Also, Bassett had badly missed on all 4 of his 3-pt attempts, but he finally hit one shortly after Stemler's pair. Overall Team Performance: D+ Tennessee State is not nearly as good as Chattanooga or Illinois State. This is a team that IU should beat 90-55. Or if Gordon gets hurt, they should still beat them by about 84-60. Aside from the first 10 minutes of the 1st half, the defense was horrible yet again. Sampson had to go back to the 2-3 zone because the man-to-man defense is awful. IU's 3-pt shooting was bad. They finished 4-16 and 3 of those came within a couple minutes. Also, Tenn St put on a press and IU looked terrible against it. Bassett's ball-handling and passes were atrocious and Ellis was just too aggressive with some of the passes he tried to make. On the positive side, they did win. I don't care how ugly it is, but there is still a big difference between playing bad in a 12-point victory over Tenn St versus losing to Tenn St. So, the fact that they won the game automatically gets the team to a D-. Then, the play of D.J. White lifts the team grade to a D+. More on DJ below. D.J. White: A DJ posted his 4th straight double-double and finished with 29 points, 13 rebounds, and 4 blocked shots. And this wasn't just in the absence of Gordon because DJ scored 20 points in the first half, most of which was done with Gordon still in the game. In fact, the only reason DJ doesn't get an A+ is that he cooled off a little in the 2nd half (3-8 FGs). Sampson said that DJ has gotten better in every game and I would agree. I'm not sure why he started the season so slow, but he has looked very good in the last few games. Eric Gordon: C Gordon really wasn't looking too good before he got hurt. He was 1-4 from the field, including 0-2 from the arc. However, as usual, he did a good job getting to the line and he was 6-6. He did miss a dunk on a fast break that probably would have been his best one yet if he could have gotten it down. But it didn't take him long to redeem himself. On the very next possession, Stemler found Gordon on a back-door cut and he threw down one of his signature tomahawk dunks. And because he had just missed a dunk, this one seemed to have a little extra mustard. Often times, Gordon gets away with a loose handle on the dribble because he is so strong. However, sometimes he tries to dribble through traffic and when he starts to lose the handle, he tries to keep going and dribbling. At some point, I think he just needs to stop and grab the ball. Twice tonight, he tried to keep a dribble alive for half the length of the court only to ultimately lose the ball. Once Big Ten play arrives, every possession is so important that I would prefer him to just grab the ball any time he starts to lose the handle. Of course, on many occasions already this year, he is able to keep dribbling and either converts or gets fouled, so maybe I'm getting picky. If you haven't noticed, my grades are pretty tough on the fabulous freshman, but that's just because he is capable of some big things. If he puts it all together, he is going to hang 40 on somebody. At Illinois would be nice. All that said, the Hoosiers clearly missed him tonight. On the offensive end, he not only scores, but his defender goes with him everywhere he goes. That, in turn, opens the lane and the post area for everyone else. And defensively, I think Sampson would have put him on the Price guy that lit us up for 34 points. So, get better Eric, we'll need you against Kentucky. Armon Bassett: D Since his hot start, Bassett hasn't been able to throw it in the ocean. I think they mentioned that he was 9 for his last 38 or something. I don't know if that included tonight, but he was 2-11 tonight. His shot looked bad, his ball handling was bad, his passing was bad, his decision making was bad, and his defense was worse. Don't worry Armon, I'm still a huge fan. You just looked like crap tonight. We'll chalk it up to being tired due to all your fellow guard teammates bailing on you. Jamarcus Ellis: B Another double-double for J-Ellis and nearly a triple-double. Actually, nearly a quadruple-double. Unfortunately, one category was turnovers. So, we'll start with the bad. Jamarcus had 7 turnovers tonight. Mainly bad passes and usually just trying to do too much. Fortunately, he was also successful in many of his attempts to make things happen. His previous two double-doubles were in points and rebounds, but tonight's were points and assists. He finished with 10 points, 10 assists, 7 rebounds, 2 steals, and a block. Lance Stemler: B+ He was headed for a D+ until he made those back-to-back 3s when the game got really scary at only a 7-point lead. Other than that, he had a typical Stemler game -- some hustle plays combined with some bad plays. But those were a couple of big shots. Especially since he had missed his first 3 attempts badly, I figured he was going to miss his next 10 attempts like he did last year. So, I was really glad to see him bounce back and hit them when they really counted. Mike White: A- I really like Mike White. You know when he is in the game, bodies start flying. I love it. And not only did he have 8 rebounds, he chipped in with 11 points including 5-8 from the line. Brandon McGee: B- McGee contributed with 7 points in 13 minutes, but often looked lost out there. DeAndre Thomas: C Limited minutes again since Mike White clearly offers better defense and better rebounding. Was it just me or did the big fella try to dunk twice tonight? The first one looked like he got fouled and they didn't call it, but he got the rebound and put it in anyway. I wasn't paying attention to the final seconds of the game, but I think he tried to dunk again. Anyway, I think I like rotating Stemler, Mike White, and DeAndre. Sampson has the ability to use different looks. If he wants the hustle plays and possibly an additional spot-up shooter, he can go with Stemler. If he wants rebounding and toughness, he can go with Mike White. And if he wants an additional offensive threat in the post, he can go with DeAndre. Once Sampson has the same luxury with the guards by getting everyone healthy and off suspension, it will make a big difference for this team. There were definitely some stretches were Bassett and Ellis just looked tired on defense and sloppy on offense. Ideally, Sampson could quickly turn to his bench and tell Crawford and Ratliff to get in there and hopefully that would get the Hoosiers back on track. Tonight, Sampson's hands were tied, he had to keep Bassett and Ellis in there. We'll definitely keep our eye on the health status of Gordon this week. Early reports sound pretty good, but then again, I wouldn't be surprised if IU doesn't give any definitive information to keep Kentucky guessing. Go Hoosiers!