AP News, January 18th, 2008
The Indiana Hoosiers are so much more than Eric Gordon. D.J. White had 17 points and 10 rebounds and Lance Stemler hit a crucial 3-pointer to lift the ninth-ranked Hoosiers to a 65-60 victory over Minnesota on Thursday night.
On a night when their super freshman struggled in all areas, Gordon's supporting cast came up huge to extend Indiana's winning streak to 11 games, their longest since a 13-game streak in 1992-93.
Gordon had just 12 points on 3-for-8 shooting, committed seven turnovers and was hindered by foul trouble, and the Hoosiers (15-1, 4-0 Big Ten) committed a season-high 26 turnovers in the game.
But Jordan Crawford scored 14 of his 16 points in the first half and Gordon hit two big free throws down the stretch to seal it for Indiana, which matched its best start since 1996-97.
Dan Coleman had 15 points and seven rebounds for the feisty Gophers (12-4, 2-2), but they scored just 16 points off all those Hoosiers turnovers and missed 10 free throws.
The Gophers went on a 9-0 run, holding error-prone Indiana scoreless for nearly 8 minutes, to take a 56-52 lead with 6:50 to go and led 60-58 on a reverse layup by Spencer Tollackson with 1:49 left.
But Stemler came back with a 3-pointer from the top of the key, and the Hoosiers closed it out at the free throw line to keep new Gophers coach Tubby Smith stuck on 399 career victories.
Despite getting off to the best start since 2004-05, the Gophers still had a lot to prove coming into this game. They have yet to beat a quality opponent, though they did play Michigan State tough in a six-point loss in East Lansing on Jan. 5.
They were right in this one to the end too, thanks to sloppy play by the Hoosiers and a big help from raucous Williams Arena.
Spurred on by a jam-packed student section that featured five gorillas, a giant cell phone (in reference to a pending NCAA investigation hanging over Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson) and Clifford the Big Red Dog, a cow and a chicken, "The Barn" was as loud as its been in quite some time.
The place went crazy when McKenzie split a double team and knocked down a leaner in the lane to give the Gophers an 8-3 lead early, and it's hard to imagine the Hoosiers getting off to a poorer start.
Indiana turned the ball over 11 times in the first 13 minutes and Gordon played just nine minutes in the first half because of foul trouble.
The star freshman picked up two fouls in the first 2 1/2 minutes, didn't even take a shot until 11:30 into the game and went to the bench with his third foul with 5:26 to go in the half.
Yet the Hoosiers hung right in there, thanks in large part to Crawford's sharp shooting. After air-balling his first shot of the game, Crawford hit his next four 3-pointers, including three during a 17-0 run that gave Indiana a 38-27 lead with 2:20 to play.
After taking advantage of Penn State's horrendous foul shooting to squeak out a win at Penn State last weekend, the Gophers returned the favor against Indiana.
They were just 3-for-10 from the line in the first half and just 38 percent from the field and trailed 40-32 at the break.
Many ranked Hoosiers squads have come into this building and lost. They were ranked 25th in a loss here in 2002, ninth in 2000, fourth in 1992 and 12th in 1990.
These ninth-ranked Hoosiers tried to give this one away, but they rode an overwhelming 42-26 advantage on the boards to their third conference road victory of the season. The Hoosiers were 2-6 on the road last season.
