Indiana wins showdown; NU falls at Iowa

Kelvin Sampson couldn't understand why he was still being asked if his problems over possible NCAA violations were a distraction for his team.

Eric Gordon scored 22 points to lead No. 15 Indiana to a 77-68 victory over visiting No. 14 Purdue on Tuesday night in the Hoosiers' last game before the completion of the school's investigation into accusations Sampson committed major rules violations.

"I think the way our team is playing answers all the questions," he said. "I think our play speaks for itself."

D.J. White, who had 19 points and 15 rebounds despite playing on a sprained left knee, said the Hoosiers (22-4, 11-2 Big Ten) aren't thinking about what Sampson's future holds.

"When we're on the court, that's all we're focused on," he said. "Right now, we're just trying to win games."

The latest win snapped Purdue's 11-game winning streak and brought Indiana within one-half game of the Boilermakers (21-6, 12-2) at the top of the conference standings.

Indiana's fans seemed to move toward Sampson's side after a giving him a lukewarm response during pregame introductions. Chants of "Kel-vin Samp-son" rang out in the game's final minutes.

Sampson said he expects to be on the sideline Saturday at Northwestern. If Tuesday's game was his last at Indiana, he has White to thank for it ending well.

"You learn not to take a kid like him for granted," Sampson said. "He's a horse."

Armon Bassett added 16 points and 8 rebounds for the Hoosiers.

Robbie Hummel had 17 points for the Boilermakers, while Scott Martin added 12.

The Hoosiers went 30 of 34 from the free throw line while Purdue was just 11 of 21.

"We made careless mistakes, putting our hands on guys," Purdue coach Matt Painter said. "We had so many situations where if we get a stop, we could take the lead, and then we'd foul."

Painter said there was no answer for Gordon and White.

"Those guys have got to be the best 1-2 punch in the country, the best inside-outside combination," he said.

Iowa 53, Northwestern 51: Cyrus Tate scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as host Iowa rallied from a 14-point deficit to beat Northwestern.

Iowa (12-15, 5-9 Big Ten) trailed by 14 points in the second half but responded with a 25-9 run to keep the Wildcats winless in conference play.

Northwestern (7-17, 0-13) trailed by 2 with 14.3 seconds remaining and had a shot to win, but Craig Moore's 3 with 10 seconds left hit the front of the rim. Tate grabbed the rebound, but missed both free throws. Moore had a second shot to win the game, but again his deep 3 hit the front of the rim.

Bradley 72, Drake 71: Jeremy Crouch's jumper with 11 seconds left capped Bradley's 12-2 game-closing run that gave the No. 16 Bulldogs their first home loss of the season.

Crouch scored 23 points to lead the Braves (16-12, 9-7 Missouri Valley Conference), who held Drake (23-3, 14-2) scoreless for the final 5 minutes.

Bradley took its first lead of the second half when Crouch pulled up just inside the 3-point line and drilled an 18-footer to make it 72-71.

Drake's Klayton Korver missed an open jumper, and Josh Young's desperation shot hit the rim as time expired.

Women

Rutgers 57, Notre Dame 51: Epiphanny Prince scored 18 points, Matee Ajavon added 15 and No. 5 Rutgers overcame an eight-minute scoreless drought to beat visiting No. 14 Notre Dame.

Notre Dame (20-6, 8-4 Big East), which averages nearly 80 points, held Rutgers without a field goal for nearly 11 minutes spanning halftime as the Scarlet Knights (21-4, 11-1) were stymied by the Irish's zone defense.