No. 11 Indiana has had little to complain about this season. The Hoosiers (17-2, Big Ten 6-0) are off to their best conference start since their last Big Ten title in 1993 and have emerged as the team to beat in the Midwest.
Fueled by freshman superstar Eric Gordon and steady senior D.J. White, the top two scorers in the conference, Indiana is first in the Big Ten and has climbed as high as seventh nationally.
But speculations that the team was riding a weak early-season schedule persisted after Saturday’s non-conference loss to a mediocre Connecticut team, 68-63.
Gordon and White struggled against UConn, shooting a combined 10 of 29 from the field and contributing to a porous Hoosiers’ defense that allowed all five Huskies starters to score in double figures.
“We certainly could have played better across the board,” coach Kelvin Sampson said in the Big Ten’s weekly basketball teleconference. “And on both ends of the floor.”
This week provides Indiana with the perfect forum to silence critics who question the team’s low-post scoring and defensive toughness. In addition to facing Northwestern at home on Sunday, the Hoosiers face No. 13 Wisconsin on the road Thursday in a matchup of the conference’s top offensive and defensive teams.
“We have a chance to right a lot of wrongs this week against Wisconsin,” Sampson said. “It’s an opportunity to play real well, and we’re going to have to.”
freshmen boiler up against Badgers
It’s been a good week for Purdue basketball and coach Matt Painter. The Boilermakers (15-5, Big Ten 6-1) are riding a five-game win streak and notched two big wins against Penn State and a Wisconsin squad that was previously unbeaten in the Big Ten.
“We had a great team effort,” Painter said of his team’s 60-56 win over the Badgers. “The guys played very well defensively, and we were very fortunate to come out one possession ahead.”
Despite giving eventual champion Florida a tough game in last year’s NCAA Tournament, Purdue entered this season projected in the bottom half of the Big Ten standings. Having lost last season’s two leading scorers to graduation, Painter turned to three freshmen and two sophomores to form the youngest starting five in the conference. But, like last year’s Ohio State team that went to the NCAA title game, the Boilermakers are showing that youth sometimes wins out.
After two tough losses to Wofford and Iowa State in December, Purdue has won eight of its last nine and finds itself just a half-game back of hated rival Indiana in the Big Ten standings.
“It takes a while when you don’t have returning players to figure out roles and to have chemistry,” Painter said. “Our guys have done a good job of continuing to grind it and get better as a team.”
It remains to be seen if Purdue can continue to stay competitive in Big Ten, but with the team already well ahead of schedule, its future looks bright.
Notes
Big Ten teams continue to struggle against ranked opponents, entering this week with a record of 4-11. … As of January 28th, the Big Ten ranks sixth in the RPI conference standings. … Indiana’s Eric Gordon and D.J. White and Michigan State’s Drew Nietzel have been named to the Naismith Player of Year Trophy’s 30-person midseason list. Gordon and White were also named to the 30-person mid-season list for the John Wooden Player of Year Award and All-American team. Also included was Michigan State’s Raymar Morgan.
Reach James Graham at [email protected]
