INDIANAPOLIS -- Kelvin Sampson had been waiting since March for this night. It finally came, and while the story didn't play out as well as the first-year IU coach might have hoped, the final result did.
The IU men's basketball team went on a 29-5 run late in the second half of Monday night's game to secure a 91-66 victory against Lafayette College of Easton, Pa. The matchup marked the Hoosiers' first win of the regular season and the first of Sampson's career.
"I don't know if we could have scripted it better," Sampson said. "We jump out to an early lead, then they come back."
Senior guards Rod Wilmont and Earl Calloway led the Hoosiers with 24 points and 22 points respectively. Wilmont hit 6-of-11 3-pointers and also tallied five steals, while Calloway shot 9-for-11 from the field and dished out nine assists.
"I was excited that this was the beginning of the season," Calloway said, "and we've been waiting since April to get out onto the basketball court and put our things that we worked on -- the long hours, waking up in the morning -- put it out there on the basketball court, play and have fun and compete."
Junior forward D.J. White played just eight minutes in the contest because of foul trouble and finished the game with four points and three rebounds. Nine different Hoosiers saw at least 10 minutes of playing time in the game, including senior Errek Suhr, whose 3-pointer with 6:48 remaining in the game helped jumpstart the Hoosiers' 29-5 surge.
"We just had to turn it up on the defensive end; they were back cutting us and getting lots of layups," Calloway said of the Hoosiers' big run. "Coach (Sampson) was emphasizing that we stop them from back cutting, and it starts on defense. So that stretch right there was to play good defense."
Fouls plagued both teams during the game as they combined for 52 fouls and had a total of six players commit at least four fouls. Despite the number of fouls, Sampson said he understood why so many were made.
"I think early in the season (officiating is) gonna be like that a lot of games," he said. "I think points of emphasis (are) rough play, hand-checking. Usually when the season starts, there's an overabundance of that stuff."
Sampson said he received several encouraging phone calls and text messages throughout the day from former players and assistant coaches. But in the end, Monday night's game wasn't about him.
"I think when you're a veteran coach, you want the game to be about your team," he said. "To me the story of tonight, (I was) so glad that the three seniors (Wilmont, Calloway and Suhr) played well. That's great for the team."
With the win, IU advanced to the second round of the NIT Season Tip-Off Tournament where the team will face Butler tonight at 9 p.m. at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The Bulldogs defeated Notre Dame 71-69 Monday evening behind 28 points from Indianapolis native A.J. Graves.
"When I think of a team like Butler, I think of a team that's really good at accentuating their strengths. Their guards are good, they always are," Sampson said. "Defensively they scrap and claw … Some years are better than others, but they always have good years"
