Recap: Northwestern vs. Indiana

By Sports Network

The Sports Network

Armon Bassett scored 24 points as 15th-ranked Indiana finished a tumultuous week with a stirring 85-82 win over Northwestern at Welsh-Ryan Arena, just one day after the school parted ways with head coach Kelvin Sampson.

Sampson resigned Friday amidst accusations of five NCAA rules violations after reaching a $750,000 settlement with the university to buy out his contact. Sampson's top assistant, Dan Dakich, was immediately named as interim coach.

Dakich, who was in his first year as an assistant, played basketball at Indiana under Bob Knight from 1982-85. Dakich also spent 12 seasons (1985-97) on the IU coaching staff under Knight. Dakich returned to Bloomington after spending the last 10 years as the men's basketball coach at Bowling Green.

"I have a lot of emotions about this, feelings for coach Sampson, and what I know he and his family our going through," Dakich said. "Feelings for players and what I know they're going through. Let's put it this way, I feel a lot better that this is my first win as opposed to if this was my first loss."

Apparently unhappy with Sampson's decision to resign, six Hoosiers players skipped Dakich's first official practice Friday afternoon. Senior captain D.J. White was missing along with Bassett, Jordan Crawford, Jamarcus Ellis, DeAndre Thomas and Brandon McGee.

All six made the trip to Evanston, with White, Bassett and Ellis all in the starting lineup. Several Hoosiers played the game with the initials "K.S." written on their shoes, paying homage to their embattled former coach.

Crawford scored 21 points off the bench for Indiana (23-4, 12-2 Big Ten), which has won three straight and six of seven overall to move into a three-way tie atop the Big Ten with Wisconsin and Purdue. White scored 16 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, while Eric Gordon made 13-of-16 free throws in an 18-point effort.

"I know they're going through this situation, but I saw them play against Michigan State when it was in full boil and against Purdue, who is a very good team, and they looked awfully good to me," said Wildcats head coach Bill Carmody. "Even against Wisconsin, they got beat on a banker at the end. Once you throw it up there, the guys play. I thought they did that tonight and I thought they played well."

The loss spoiled a heroic performance by Kevin Coble, who paced Northwestern (7-18, 0-14) with a career-best 37 points. Michael Thompson added 15 points for the Wildcats, who have dropped seven straight and are winless in the Big Ten since a 53-51 win over Penn State on February 10, 2007.

"(Kevin) played very well," Carmody said. "I told him before the game. I just took him aside and I said 'you really haven't been playing that well. Let's see what you can do out there tonight,' because he really hasn't. He's been off and he's capable of good games and he certainly produced this evening."

A 7-1 run put Northwestern up by eight, 44-36, shortly after halftime before the Hoosiers began to cut into the deficit. Indiana slowly reeled the margin back in, and finally took a 58-57 lead on a pair of Gordon free throws with 12:56 left. The lead was the first for the Hoosiers since an 8-6 advantage early in the first half.

Indiana led by as many as four over the next six minutes, before Bassett rattled home a three to put the Hoosiers up 71-66 with just under seven minutes to play. Thompson went coast-to-coast for a layup that cut the lead to three, then Coble put in a reverse layup to make it a 71-70 game inside of 5 1/2 minutes left.

Crawford drained a pair of free throws to push the margin back to three, but Coble buried a three to force a 73-73 tie with 4:08 remaining.

The teams continued to trade baskets, until Coble's three with 2:45 to play put the Wildcats ahead 78-77. Gordon then put the Hoosiers back ahead with a pair of free throws with 1:50 on the clock.

Bassett hit two free throws with 33.8 ticks left to give the Hoosiers an 81-78 edge, but Coble answered with a pair of his own from the charity stripe for a one point margin with 21.6 seconds left.

Gordon was fouled before the inbounds pass and made two more free throws to make the score 83-80, and Thompson again cut the deficit to one on a layup with 13.7 seconds to play.

Gordon was called for traveling on Indiana's ensuing possession, but White forced Thompson's go-ahead layup attempt to fall short, grabbed the rebound and drained two at the foul line with 5.3 seconds to go.

Thompson's running desperation three clanged off the front of the rim in the final moments, and Indiana controlled the loose ball to hold on and give Dakich his first win on the Indiana bench. The Hoosiers made 25-of-31 second half free throws, including eight straight over the final 1:46, to seal the win.

"I'm so proud of our players the way they've been so resilient in the course of this year," Dakich said. "It's a testament to all the things I think are good about Indiana University and Indiana University basketball."

The Wildcats took advantage of lapses in Indiana's defense early, as Coble scored 14 points in the half and put the Wildcats ahead by nine when his layup made it a 27-18 game with just under nine minutes left in the half.

The Hoosiers trimmed into the deficit, and despite committing 10 first half turnovers, trailed just 37-35 at the break after Crawford's three with eight seconds to play.

Game Notes