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Indiana's Gordon gets final laugh at taunters

Frosh who reneged on commitment hits clutch 3 to help beat Illinois in 2OT

Image: Indiana's Eric Gordon, Brian Randle, Shaun PruittAP
Indiana's Eric Gordon (23) shoots as Illinois' Brian Randle, left, and Shaun Pruitt (55) defend in the second half.

In the first overtime, back-to-back 3-pointers by Jordan Crawford (18 points) gave Indiana a 69-66 lead, but McCamey buried one of his own to tie it with just under a minute left.

The Hoosiers’ Jamarcus Ellis missed two free throws with 29.5 seconds left, and the Illini’s Pruitt missed two with two seconds left, sending it into another OT.

“Sooner or later, something is going to go right for our group,” Illini coach Bruce Weber said.

McCamey said: “We had our chances.”

The wild game took some of the focus off the Gordon subplot.

The Illini are in danger of missing the postseason for the first time since 1999, and many fans blame Gordon for that.

The Indianapolis native gave Illinois an oral commitment as a high school junior but changed his mind after Sampson replaced Mike Davis at Indiana.

Fans and some coaches even questioned whether Sampson had followed proper protocol by contacting Gordon without talking to Weber first.

On the court, Gordon’s transition to college has been seemless — his struggles in the first half notwithstanding.

The explosiveness and touch from the perimeter simply were missing early on, and the crowd pounced on him, chanting: “In your head! In your head!”

“Coach just told me I had to settle down,” Gordon said. “Usually, when I go too fast, I get a turnover, and it’s just about myself. I just needed to handle that on my own.”

© 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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