Sampson, Crawford and White address media
Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson, freshman guard Jordan Crawford and senior forward D.J. White addressed the media today and here are some highlights from the press conference, courtesy of IU Media Relations. A full transcript is available here.
Jordan Crawford
On playing against his brother, Joe, a senior at Kentucky:
“We never talked about playing against each other at this level, but since I signed here we have talked about the game once I saw it on the schedule. At this level, I never thought this would happen. We talked on the phone every day about it this week. It’s getting closer to the game now though, so I am trying not to talk to him anymore.”
“There is going to be a little bit of trash talking, but I am trying not to make this an individual battle, because this is way bigger than that. Kentucky versus Indiana, period, it’s a big game. The last level we played on the same team is probably recreation play back in middle school. If we went to play a pick-up game and we are on the same team, we would get mad at each other for making little mistakes.”
“In ninth or tenth grade I was like five-eight. Then my junior year I got to six-two and really started getting athletic. My above-the-rim ability began to come. My first dunk was my senior year of high school. He was probably surprised, he didn’t see me play much last year at Hargrave. We have similarities, we both like going to the hole a lot. He is physical and uses that to bump guards off of him. I have to use my speed to get around guards. We both can shoot, but I think he likes the three more than me.”
Kelvin Sampson
On if Eric Gordon will play vs. Kentucky/overall health of team:
“He is better. I expect him to play. Tuesday was a day off, so no one practiced. Yesterday he did a lot of shooting. We have a lot of other guys banged up. Armon (Bassett), D.J. (White). It is the wear-and-tear of seven games in 15 days. It is the week before finals. Sometimes we forget about that. We had four guys who had to leave practice early to go take finals so yesterday we had to work around a lot of things. There is a lot going on with us.”
On the team being more motivated to play Kentucky:
“I think all rivalry games are like that. Indiana-Kentucky is a lot like Notre Dame-Southern California in football. These are both great programs with rich traditions and I think that is what drives college basketball. These are games that fans of both schools circle early on their calendars. I know the players look forward to it. We had a really good game last year in Lexington and I anticipate having another really good game here in Bloomington. I think kids at this level take pride in their performances. And as a coach you want every game to be a big game for them.”
D.J. White
On Jordan Crawford playing against his brother:
“I know he is very excited to be back playing after missing three games and secondly playing against his brother. We joke with him in the locker room calling it the Crawford Bowl. Just messing with him, but I think he is very excited to play against his brother and especially being back.”
On whether beating Kentucky is more important than beating Purdue:
“They’re both big games. I know a lot of people, depending on where you are in Indiana, they think Kentucky is bigger, or some people think Purdue. I think they’re both big rivalries for us.”
On Patrick Patterson:
“He is athletic, a very good player. He is averaging around 16 points, so that is going to be a good matchup. We’ll just try to be physical with him, and we’ll see what happens from there.”
Filed to: D.J. White, Jordan Crawford, Kelvin Sampson