Indiana's bittersweet win Hoosiers top Purdue, but Sampson might let go
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Kelvin Sampson briefly reflected on his two seasons as Indiana's basketball coach after the Hoosiers' victory over Purdue.
By the end of the week, memories could be all he's left with.
Eric Gordon scored 22 points to lead No. 15 Indiana to a 77-68 victory over No. 14 Purdue in the Hoosiers' last game before the completion of the school's investigation into accusations that Sampson committed major rules violations.
Sampson talked about how far D.J. White has come in two years, going from a player who was "allergic to running" to one who had 19 points and 15 rebounds against Purdue despite playing with a sprained left knee. He talked about how hard his team plays, and about what good people his players are.
Mostly, he reflected on this season's victories.
"When you play 26 games, and you look up and you've lost four times ... I think we had a two-month stretch where we didn't lose," he said.
But the end could be near for Sampson.
University president Michael McRobbie said last Friday that the school would conduct a new investigation into the NCAA's accusations that Sampson committed five major rules violations.
A school investigation last year revealed Sampson and his assistants made more than 100 impermissible calls. That occurred while Sampson was on NCAA probation for making 577 improper phone calls between 2000 and 2004 while coaching Oklahoma.
Athletic director Rick Greenspan, university counsel Dorothy Frapwell and faculty representative Bruce Jaffee were asked to run the investigation and recommend by this Friday what steps the university should take.
After the game, Sampson tried to keep the attention on the team — Indiana beat Top 15 teams (Michigan State and Purdue) in consecutive games for the first time since 1992. But questions continued to go back to his future. When asked what he had told his team about it, he said: "That's between me and the players."
Sampson said he's not concerned about the opinions of those with limited information.
"The people who know me, know me," he said.
White said the Hoosiers (22-4, 11-2 Big Ten) aren't thinking about Sampson's future.
"When we're on the court, that's all we're focused on," he said. "Right now, we're just trying to win games."
The latest win snapped Purdue's 11-game winning streak and brought Indiana within one-half game of the Boilermakers (21-6, 12-2) at the top of the conference standings.
If Tuesday's game was his last at Indiana, he has White to thank for it ending well.
"You learn not to take a kid like him for granted," said Sampson, who indicated he expected to be in charge of the Hoosiers when they play at Northwestern on Saturday.
No. 13 Connecticut 65, DePaul 60
Hasheem Thabeet had 16 points, 13 rebounds and eight blocked shots for the Huskies (21-5, 10-3 Big East), who won their 10th straight by overcoming a 13-point deficit in the second half. Craig Austrie had 14 points and Jeff Adrien added 12 points and 11 rebounds for UConn, which outscored the Blue Demons 23-7 over the last 10:30 of the game.
Bradley 72, No. 16 Drake 71
Jeremy Crouch's 18-foot jumper with 11 seconds left capped Bradley's game-closing 12-2 run. Crouch scored 23 points to lead the Braves (16-12, 9-7 Missouri Valley Conference), who held Drake scoreless for the final 5 minutes to win for the eighth time in the last 10 games.
