Trying To Rebound
Star freshman Eric Gordon carried Indiana to wins in its first four games and into the top 10 in the AP poll. When he struggled his last time out, though, his team didn’t have a chance.
Gordon and the 15th-ranked Hoosiers look to bounce back from their first loss when they host Georgia Tech on Tuesday in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.
Oddsmakers from Bodog have made Indiana -10 point spread favorites (View College Basketball odds) for today’s game (Game Matchup). Current public betting information shows that 55% of bets for this game have been placed on Indiana -10 (View College Basketball bet percentages).
Indiana (4-1) lost 80-65 to Xavier in the final of the Chicago Invitational Challenge on Saturday, a defeat that dropped the Hoosiers seven places in this week’s rankings.
"Teams have opportunities to get better through losses,” Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson said.
Sampson may be taking this opportunity to consider whether the Hoosiers are relying too much on Gordon, the highly touted freshman from Indianapolis. The star guard played on consecutive nights for the first time in his college career Saturday, and when he had a rough game, the rest of the team could not get going.
Gordon is averaging 27.0 points, but the Musketeers held him to a season-low 20 – just his second game with fewer than 30. He shot 4-of-12 from the field and missed both his 3-point attempts after shooting 61.0 percent and connecting on 16 of 27 (59.3 percent) from behind the arc in the first four games.
The Hoosiers finished with season lows in points and field-goal percentage (38.5 percent) and were 1-of-15 from beyond the arc Saturday. They came in shooting 51.5 percent (35-of-68) from 3-point range.
Indiana now tries to get back on track at Assembly Hall, where it has won 20 straight games dating to 2005-06. The Hoosiers have won their three home contests this season by an average of 31.7 points.
They have not had much success in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, though, losing four straight games. Indiana fell 54-51 to then-No. 11 Duke 54-51 last season, dropping them to 2-4 all-time in this tournament.
Georgia Tech is 4-4 in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, including last season’s 77-73 win over Penn State.
The Yellow Jackets (3-2) haven’t played since beating Notre Dame 70-69 in the third-place game of the Paradise Jam in the Virgin Islands on Nov. 19. Matt Causey’s 3-pointer with 2 seconds remaining put Tech ahead for the first time since the opening minutes.
Lewis Clinch finished with 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting from beyond the arc for the Yellow Jackets, who went 10-of-17 on 3-pointers.
"We did a better job of finding open guys, and we were shooting with some confidence," Clinch told the school’s official Web site. "We still have a lot of work to do, but we took a step in the right direction."
In the only meeting between Indiana and Georgia Tech, the Hoosiers won 87-65 in the Bruin Classic in Los Angeles on Dec. 29, 1969.
by Staff Writers – Email Us
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