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Hoosiers Get Defensive In 65-43 Win Story URL: http://indiana.scout.com/2/722882.html
John Decker HoosierNation.com	Jan 24, 2008
Bloomington, Ind. – For the first time in quite a while, No. 7 Indiana made things look easy. Indiana got 19 points from D.J. White and 17 points and three blocks from Eric Gordon as it whipped Iowa 65-43 for its 12th straight win to improve to 17-1 and 6-0 in the Big Ten. Bloomington, Ind. – For the first time in quite a while, No. 7 Indiana made things look easy. Indiana got 19 points from D.J. White and 17 points and three blocks from Eric Gordon as it whipped Iowa 65-43 for its 12th straight win to improve to 17-1 and 6-0 in the Big Ten. With the win, Indiana is now off to its best overall start since the 1975-76 team went 32-0, and it’s best Big Ten start since the 1992-93 started conference play 11-0. As good as the Hoosiers were offensively – they shot 59.3 percent in the opening half and 53.2 percent overall – it was their defensive effort that did in the Hawkeyes, who slipped to 9-11 overall and 2-5 in the Big Ten. Iowa shot just 34.1 percent for the game, including 21.4 percent (6-of-28) in the second half. While the Hawkeyes did make 9-of-16 shots in the opening half, the Hoosiers countered by forcing Coach Todd Lickliter’s team into 11 first-half turnovers that helped land them in a 37-26 hole. By the time the final horn sounded, the Hoosiers had turned in its best defensive effort against a Big Ten foe since it held Wisconsin to 41 in a 66-41 win on March 12, 1992. Indiana also appeared ready for a challenging three-week stretch of games beginning with Saturday’s game against UConn. “I thought our defense was a lot better,” said IU Coach Kelvin Sampson. “Whatever happens is a byproduct of that – defense and rebounding. I didn’t realize we held them to 17 points and 21 percent in the second half. I was proud of our defensive effort tonight.” D.J. White said getting prepared for Iowa’s abundance of ball screens was a priority in practice this week after the Hawkeyes hurt the Hoosiers with that in a 79-76 IU win in Iowa City Jan. 2. The improvement was apparent, as the Hawkeyes’ Tony Freeman was the only player to reach double figures with 14 points. “They set 8-10 ball screens per possession,” White said. “We knew that would happen. So both post players were out there hedging trying to keep Freeman from getting in the lane.” Statistically, the most notable difference defensively was the job the Hoosiers did on Iowa’s Justin Johnson. The 6’6” wing hit eight 3-pointers and scored 29 points in the two teams’ first meeting, but was limited to six points on 1-of-6 shooting in 33 minutes Wednesday. Jamarcus Ellis was matched up against him most of the evening and held him in check while chipping in 12 points, eight rebounds and four assists of his own. “Our scouting report and how we defended them was good,” Sampson said. “We’re getting better in that area.” There were a lot of things that were better about the Hoosiers effort Wednesday. After struggling to wins recently over Illinois, Minnesota and Penn State, Indiana took control early against Iowa and never relinquished it. After spotting the Hawkeyes a 4-0 lead, Indiana went on a 14-3 run to open a 14-7 lead at the 13:12 mark. Gordon scored seven points during the run and added a pair of assists during the flurry to put IU on top quickly. Iowa would eventually inch within four, 28-24, with 3:37 remaining in the half, but Indiana countered with a 9-2 run to close to half and open an 11-point cushion. White got things started with a thunderous dunk on a feed from Gordon, and Armon Bassett followed with a 3-pointer to open the lead to nine. After a pair of Justin Johnson free throws, White followed up a Jordan Crawford missed dunk, and DeAndre Thomas closed the half’s scoring with a 10-footer in the lane at the first-half buzzer. Any hopes of an Iowa comeback were dashed by the fact the Hawkeyes missed 22 of 28 field goal attempts in the final 20 minutes and turned it over nine more times, giving them 20 for the game. “When you look and it’s a 22-point game and they scored 31 points off turnovers, it’s pretty obvious that we lacked poise,” Iowa Coach Todd Lickliter said.” INDIANA 65 Thomas 1-2 0-2 2, D. White 8-13 3-5 19, Bassett 3-3 0-0 8, Ellis 3-7 6-7 12, Gordon 7-11 3-4 17, Finkelmeier 0-0 0-0 0, Crawford 2-5 0-0 5, Ratliff 0-2 0-0 0, Stemler 0-3 0-0 0, McGee 1-1 0-0 2, M White 0-0 0-0 0, Ahlfeld 0-0 0-0 0, Taber 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-47 12-18 65. IOWA 43 Tate 3-5 2-4 8, Gorney 1-3 0-1 2, Freeman 5-13 0-0 14, Johnson 1-6 3-4 6, Kelley 3-8 0-0 6, Angle 0-4 0-0 0, Bohall 0-0 0-2 0, Peterson 1-4 1-1 3, Looby 1-1 2-2 4. Totals 15-44 8-14 43. 3-Pointers: Indiana 3-14 (Bassett 2-2, Crawford 1-2, Stemler 0-3, Gordon 0-3, Ellis 0-2, Ratliff 0-2), Iowa 5-17 (Freeman 4-8, Johnson 1-4, Kelly 0-2, Angle 0-2, Peterson 0-1). Rebounds: Indiana 30 (Ellis 8), Iowa 28 (Tate, Gorney 5). Assists: Indiana 13 (Ellis 4), Iowa 6 (Johnson 2). Turnovers: Indiana 14, Iowa 20. Blocks: Indiana 3, Iowa 1. Steals: Indiana 10, Iowa 5. Officials: Tom O’Neill, Steve Olson, Dan Chrisman. Attendance: 17,269 Copyright © Scout.com and HoosierNation.com