Gordon just 'another player'

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- If anyone expected some extracurricular activities in Illinois' first opportunity to play against Indiana freshman Eric Gordon, they came away sorely disappointed.

Gordon fought hard to earn his game-high 17 points -- more than 6 below his Big Ten-leading average -- but not because of any funny business.

"We didn't say anything about it," said Illinois senior Brian Randle, who played 40 minutes for the first time. "He was another player on the scouting report. Obviously he's one of the best freshmen in the country.

"But in terms of what everybody wants to hear about 'We're angry' or 'It's a payback game," this is a game. It's Indiana vs. Illinois."

Six-foot-5 junior guard Calvin Brock spent most of the first 27 minutes guarding Gordon, but the 6-8 Randle handled him the rest of the way.

Gordon finished 4 of 10 from the floor and 1 of 6 on 3-pointers. He did draw several fouls, as is his wont, and went 8 of 10 from the line.

"Calvin did a great job on 'E.J.' and (so did) Brian," Illinois coach Bruce Weber said. "We never let him get in a rhythm. We were going to trap every time he got the ball. I think that frustrated them a little bit."

"They were playing hard," Gordon said. "And they were executing whatever they needed to do against us. We just needed to relax and deal with all the pressure they were giving us."

Injury issues: Junior guard Chester Frazier tore cartilage in his rib cage during the first half of the Penn State game on Jan. 6.

Though he toughed out the rest of that game and battled for 30 minutes against Wisconsin on Thursday, Frazier couldn't go against Indiana. He's expected to be a game-time decision against Michigan on Wednesday.

Junior forward Rodney Alexander will go for tests today after injuring his left shoulder in Saturday's practice.

Alexander wasn't supposed to play Sunday, but he had to come in for the final 2:59 of the first half after Mike Tisdale picked up his third foul.

Alexander promptly lost a rebound out of bounds because he couldn't raise his left arm as high as needed.

"I nearly separated it," said Alexander, a Benton Harbor, Mich., native. "But I'm definitely playing against Michigan. That's a given."

Who played? With injuries and foul troubles hounding Illinois, junior shooter Steve Holdren played for the first time in eight games and freshman guard Jeff Jordan saw his first crunch-time action ever.

Holdren nailed a 3-pointer early in his 13-minute stint, while Jordan contributed a free throw (his first Big Ten point) while giving Demetri McCamey a one-minute, 17-second breather.

He said it: If you yelled at the TV screen while watching Demetri McCamey's ill-fated reverse layup with 15 seconds left Sunday -- his second missed reverse of the half -- you probably didn't say the same words as Illini coach Bruce Weber:

"He avoided contact again and did a 'double-duper-duper' or something, I have no idea what the heck it was. And it didn't go in."