Eric Gordon scores 31 points as Indiana tops ISU
Illinois State’s basketball team didn’t upset a top-10 ranked team for the first time in 23 years Friday night. The Redbirds didn’t make it easy for No. 8 Indiana, either.
ISU closed within two points with 10:27 left in a Chicago Invitational Challenge semifinal game. The Redbirds were still close, trailing 55-52 with 7:56 remaining, before running out of energy down the stretch as Indiana pulled away for a 70-57 victory at the Sears Centre.
“We kept telling ourselves if we grind away and grind way and cut the score down, eventually it’s going to lead our way. It was leading that way,” said ISU forward Anthony Slack. “We felt we had momentum. When that happened (down 55-52), they hit some tough shots. That was kind of demoralizing.”
The Redbirds (3-1) face Kent State (3-2) for third place at 5 p.m. today before the Indiana-Xavier championship game at 7:30. Xavier beat Kent State 78-65.
Indiana's Eric Gordon proved all his hype is justified. Eric Gordon scored a game-high 31 points, while fellow freshman Jordan Crawford was just as valuable in the second half with 10 of his 13 points.
Levi Dyer came off the bench to pace ISU with 18 points. Slack added 13 points, five rebounds and four blocks, while Dinma Odiakosa contributed eight points and a game-high eight rebounds as the Redbird frontcourt outplayed their Indiana counterparts.
Indiana’s air-tight defense held ISU scoring leader Osiris Eldridge to seven points, 14 below his average. The Redbirds shot 37 percent from the field and couldn’t make up for that at the line, sinking 11 of 24 free throws.
“I’m really proud of our guys. They kept falling behind and refused to quit and battled back and back,” said ISU coach Tim Jankovich. “We talked a number of times to get to the eight-minute mark and have the game anyone’s game, a lot of times the pressure swings over to a team like Indiana. I’ve been on that bench and through that situation before.
“Give credit to Indiana. Their defense got better when it needed to. We did not find the same shots we did before. They hit three or four really tough shots to separate from us.”
Indiana (4-0), which averaged 98 points in its first three games, shot a season-low 44.8 percent from the field. But the Hoosiers outrebounded ISU 48-33, grabbing 18 offensive boards, and had 22 second-chance points to the Redbirds’ 4.
“For the most part, I thought we defended them well,” said Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson. “Tim did a good job of junking the game up. Their box-and-one had us off-balance a little bit. There were parts of the game that weren’t pretty, but I don’t care about that. We’re 4-0, and that’s what our goal was.”
Indiana seemed ready to pull away early in the second half. The Hoosiers extended their 38-28 halftime lead to 50-39 as Eric Gordon drove down the lane and threw down a dunk to the delight of the pro-Indiana crowd.
ISU didn’t buckle. Dyer sank two 3-pointers in a 9-0 run that cut the lead to 50-48. Eric Gordon’s free throw and basket off his own miss at the line extended the margin to 55-49 before Dyer sank one free throw and Dom Johnson’s lay-in brought ISU within 55-52.
After a media timeout, ISU went more than five minutes without a basket as the Hoosiers survived.
“We hung in there for 33 or 35 minutes. We came here to win two games,” said Dyer, who was 5 of 6 from 3-point range. “We have to come back tomorrow with a fighting attitude and get one.”
Jankovich was impressed with the play of Slack, Dyer and Odiakosa. Brandon Sampay, who missed several days of practice because of his great-grandmother’s funeral, did not play.
“They’re really down now. They really competed and wanted this game,” said Jankovich. “To get to the six- or seven-minute mark and know it was anyone’s game hurts even more, knowing it slipped away from them.”
The start and the finish were much the same.
ISU committed turnovers on its first five possessions and quickly fell behind 6-0. But the Redbirds slowly chipped the deficit and trailed 17-15 on Slack’s basket with 9:33 left. ISU had a chance to tie, but Brandon Holtz couldn’t convert an open 12-foot jumper.
Eric Gordon scored most of his early points inside the paint. He sank his first 3-pointer to put the Hoosiers ahead 30-17 with 5:34 left. ISU came back again, going on an 8-0 run with Eldridge’s first basket of the game on a steal and layup pulling the Redbirds within 30-25.
Indiana ended the half outscoring ISU 8-3 to take a 10-point lead at the break. Eric Gordon finished the half with 20 points.
“He’s really explosive and has a quick first step,” said Johnson, one of several Redbirds who covered Eric Gordon. “Basically, we put ourselves in a hole in the beginning.”
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