Despite what most people will tell you, Indiana-Illinois has always been a rivalry, at least to some extent. That whole familiarity-breeds-contempt thing? I’m pretty familiar with Illinois fans; Illinois fans were pretty familiar with Bob Knight. The rivalry here is fun, but it is not new. Add a spice of Eric Gordon, and you’ve got yourself a game that will generate more hyperbole and angst than it will reason and consideration.

That’s to be expected, but context doesn’t make free throws, and it doesn’t run a motion offense. (Neither do the Hoosiers, but hey! I’ll be here all night!) Context is important, sure, but it’s never as important as what happens on the court. In that spirit, then, let’s figure out just why the Hoosiers have such a difficult time with the Illini — and why tonight could be no different.

The first problem here is the matchups. It’s not anything new, but while the Illini are a pretty bad offensive team, defensively they are almost perfectly suited to stop IU. 6′10 Shaun Pruitt is bigger than White and just as strong; he makes things difficult for D.J. even without a double team. The story is the same for Eric Gordon, who was defended admirably in the first matchup by the duo of Calvin Brock and Brian Randle. Both are athletic enough to stay close to Gordon on the perimeter without worrying about a blow-by.

As we’ve established recently, without Gordon and White at the peak of their game, the Hoosiers are toast. The Illini are lucky enough to match up well with IU at those two spots, matchups that level the star-power playing field on the offensive end of the floor.

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Well, this one certainly didn’t go as planned. The Illini did what they do best — that is, they defended the hell out of IU — and nearly handed the Hoosiers their first loss at home under Kelvin Sampson. Fortunately, IU was able to stop the Illini on their last crucial position of the game and Armon Bassett was fouled and hit two free throws to seal the deal for IU, 62-58.

Simply put: the Illini took IU out of their game all afternoon. The combination of Calvin Brock and Brian Randle frustrated Eric Gordon — he scored 17 for the afternoon, thanks to his penchant for getting to the line — and the Illini double-teamed D.J. White all game, setting up errant passes and futile possessions. If the Illini could actually make free throws, this game could have had a different outcome, that’s for sure. They were 13-21 for the game.

As was maybe to be expected, there was some verbal jarring back and forth between the squads. Once in the first half, Shaun Pruitt and DeAndre Thomas got into a bit of a tussle on the floor. In the second half, Randle and Jamarcus Ellis were jawing at each other across the lane during free throw attempts.

This certainly wasn’t the prettiest win, or an EJ assault on the Illini or a very comforting game as a fan — one particularly grinding thing: Illinois didn’t score a field goal for nearly ten minutes in the second half and IU only manged to gain a five-point advantage during that frame — but hey, it’s a win. And that’s all that really matters. IU is now 3-0 in the Big Ten and tied for first with Wisconsin. The Hoosiers are 14-1 overall.

Get ready for the rematch Feb. 7. It’s gonna be a doozy.

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