Eric Gordon scored 29 points and D.J. White added 18 points and 14 rebounds as No. 15 Indiana held off Georgia Tech 83-79 in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge on Tuesday night at Assembly Hall.
The Hoosiers (5-1) led 38-34 at halftime, but the Yellow Jackets opened the second half on a 15-5 run to claim a 49-43 lead.
Gordon took over after Tech’s run and scored 15 of his 18 second half points in the final 13:04. Gordon played all 40 minutes and shot 7 of 14 from the field and 13 of 16 from the free throw line.
White played arguably his best game of the season, hitting 6 of 9 from the field and adding three blocks.
Lance Stemler found his way back into the starting lineup and had a season-high 15 points. Stemler hit 3 of 6 three-pointers in 32 minutes. Jamarcus Ellis also had 15 points and seven rebounds.
“My job on this team is to make other players better. It’s easy for me to score and just go to the basket like I did tonight. Without Jordan Crawford, I had no other choice but to be in attack mode,” Ellis said.
Lewis Clinch paced Georgia Tech with 18 points and Gani Lawai chipped in 17. The Yellow Jackets (3-3) shot 47 percent from the field but committed 13 turnovers and were out-rebounded 37-32.
Mike White saw his first action of the season for Indiana and scored two points and grabbed six rebounds in 20 minutes. Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson had announced that White would redshirt last week, but had a change of heart after the loss to Xavier.
“They (Xavier) just exposed how really immature and inexperienced we were. We just can’t go to the transaction wire and get somebody, we have somebody sitting right here that can help this team,” Sampson said.
Sampson also announced the suspension of guard Jordan Crawford prior to the game. Crawford will return December 8 against Kentucky.
Related:
This seemed to be an almost foregone conclusion with him riding the pine the entire first two games of the regular season, but now, straight from Kelvin Sampson’s mouth we have official word: Mike White will redshirt this season. It was confirmed by the coach tonight on his “Inside IU Basketball with Kelvin Sampson” radio show. (Thanks to ITH reader Big T, who attended the show, for the heads-up on this one.)
