#14 Indiana Tops #15 Purdue In What Is Looking Like Sampson's Last Game

If Indiana Hoosiers head coach Kelvin Sampson is going to be suspended this friday, preceding his termination, he will have gone out with a nice parting gift from his basketball team, who held off the Big Ten leading Purdue Boilermakers 77-68 in Bloomington, IN. Sampson was found guilty of 5 major violations by the NCAA, and after IU concludes its own research this week is expected to part ways with Sampson as soon as the week is up.

Freshman sensation Eric Gordon dropped 22 points, including 13 from the free throw line, and the Hoosiers got powerful inside play from senior power forward DJ White, who added 19 points and 15 rebounds. White sprained a ligament in his left knee, but played almost the whole game and was effective throughout, grabbing key rebounds time and time again. Indiana improved to 22-4 overall, and 11-2 in the Big Ten, 1/2 game behind Purdue.

Purdue's own freshman wunderkid Robbie Hummel scored 17, but didn't get too much help. The Boilers next highest scorer was frosh forward Scott Martin, who chipped in 12 points in 22 minutes off the bench. Martin and Hummel both went to the same Valparaiso High School in Indiana, and should both be building blocks of a young Purdue team that starts 2 freshmen and 2 sophomores, and look to be highly competitive in the Big Ten for the next few years. Even with the loss, Purdue (21-6, 12-2 in Big Ten) remains slightly ahead in the race for the Big Ten title, with their last key contest coming up at Ohio State on March 4th. Purdue leads the all time head to head series with IU 114-88.