Hoosiers hope to close regular season strong
A Big Ten regular-season title is out of the picture. But today’s regular-season finale against Penn State still has meaning to Indiana.
“We need this one bad,” freshman guard Eric Gordon said Friday. “We won’t treat this like an average game. We need this to go in the (Big Ten) tournament.”
The No. 18 Hoosiers are playing for momentum and a better seeding in the conference tournament. With a victory or a Purdue loss, IU (25-5, 14-3 Big Ten) will secure the second seed. Indiana has a first-round bye and will begin tournament play Friday at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
The Nittany Lions (14-15, 6-11) could be a possible second-round opponent. Penn State can secure the seventh seed with a win. Plus, it’s Senior Day for the Nittany Lions and the last time the Hoosiers were the visitors on senior day – just last Sunday at Michigan State – things didn’t go so well.
“If you play enough of them, you’re going to win one of them,” IU interim coach Dan Dakich said. “I know we need to be ready to play. We weren’t against Michigan State (IU lost 103-74).”
IU rebounded from the loss to defeat Minnesota 69-55 on Wednesday. And Gordon continues to rebound from his left wrist injury.
Gordon said the wrist, which he injured before the Jan. 31 game at Wisconsin, is “getting a lot better.”
“It’s more of a mental thing,” he said. “It’s hard for me to catch and shoot sometimes off of it, and it’s hard for me to dribble toward my left most of the time. My movement with the ball is getting a lot better. I’m starting to go anywhere I want.”
Gordon didn’t use the wrist as an excuse for a three-point shooting slump. In the last seven games, he’s gone 6 for 34 from three-point territory (17 percent). He’s still finding ways to score – mostly at the foul line. Gordon has scored at least 20 points in five of those games. He went 0 for 4 on three-pointers against Minnesota, but was 12 for 14 from the foul line on the way to scoring 20 points.
“He made every free throw and every basket down the stretch with an (injured) wrist. Shooting to me with Eric is the least of the concerns,” Dakich said. “He didn’t make a three and had 20 points and dominated the game when great players dominated. That guy made every shot that put us in the lead.”
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Indiana’s biggest questions entering this season centered on its retooled defense.