Indiana 84, Tennessee State 72.

This one didn't go as expected. A number of things went against the Hoosiers: less than a 48 hour turnaround, the Gordon injury, and the Crawford suspension led to a thin, tired team. TSU played an aggressive, often full court defense and created more problems for IU than a team of the Tigers' caliber should. Here's the box score.

The pace: about 74 possessions, fairly fast. Even at that pace, IU's 19 turnovers ended over 25 percent of IU's possessions, although TSU was happy to oblige with 18 turnovers. The field goal percentages and number of attempts were nearly identical and were at about 48 percent for both teams. TSU shot 8-18 from behind the arc (it seemed worse) and IU was only 4-14, ad if I recall correctly two or three of the makes were in the last five minutes of the game. IU won the game at the free throw line, again, making 28-36 to TSU's 10-14. In his 12 minutes, Gordon made 6-6 free throws and accounted for eight points on four shots. The star for the Hoosiers was DJ White, who continues to play well. White scored 29 points on 16 shots and was 7-9 from the line. He grabbed 13 rebounds and blocked four shots. Jamarcus Ellis would have had a nice night, with 10 points on 6 shots, 7 boards, and 10 assists, but turned the ball over 7 times. Including Gordon and Armon Bassett along with Ellis, the starting backcourt accounted for 13 turnovers all by itself. This has to get better. Another red flag: after a great start, Armon Bassett's shot has left him (his shot must be sleeping on a park bench next to Lance Stemler's shot, which has been on the street for a year). Bassed scored 8 points on 2-11 from the field, saves only by 3-4 from the line.

IU's rebounding was pretty good: IU grabbed 80 percent of TSU's misses and and 47 percent of its own. As with many of this season's easier games, there are some red flags: ball handling and perimeter defense most conspicuously. The Hoosiers and Gordon now can rest up and prepare for Kentucky. We'll start discussing the Wildcats tomorrow.