Sampson: D.J. needs a 'swagger'

IU forward D.J. White -- all 6-foot-9, 251 pounds of him -- lay motionless on the court as the buzzer sounded Tuesday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Hoosier big man fell to his knees with his arms extended in front of him as the realization of his team's loss sank in. \nIt's been that kind of a year for the junior forward.\nLuckily for White, his coach says he knows what the star player is missing.\n"You know what D.J. needs to do? He needs to get a swagger," IU coach Kelvin Sampson said. "You gotta bust open them bar doors and walk in and say 'Who wants a piece of me?' You know what that is? That's an attitude."\nWhite tallied just seven points in the Hoosiers' loss to Duke University Tuesday night in Durham, N.C. The Blue Devils limited the Hoosier forward to 3-for-11 shooting from the field in 38 minutes of play in large part due to the defensive effort of Duke big man Josh McRoberts. After Tuesday's game, White acknowledged Duke's efforts to take him out of his offensive element. \n"That's just credit to the defense by Duke. They showed me a lot of different looks," White said after the Hoosiers' 54-51 loss. "I caught the ball, and sometimes they came when I caught it, sometimes on the first dribble. They just did a good job of mixing that coverage up."\nWhite, who was named to the Preseason All-Big Ten Team in October, has struggled at times this season for the 3-2 Hoosiers. While he averages 12.6 points per game and 7.2 rebounds, White is shooting less than 58 percent from the free throw line and 50 percent from the field. The former Big Ten Freshman of the Year played just eight minutes and scored four points against Lafayette College Nov. 13., but he has steadily increased his production each game since then.\nSaturday night, White will draw the duties of defending and being defended by either 6-foot-7, 275-pound Antwon Coleman or 6-foot-9, 225-pound E.J. Drayton of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Both players, as well as the rest of the 49ers' high-powered offense, could present a hefty challenge for IU's junior forward and the Hoosier defense, Sampson said.\n"There's just so many things they run. They're just really, really good offensively," IU's coach said. "So for us this will be a challenge to defend them ... I saw A.J. Drayton play before. He's long, athletic, can score -- they have three seniors who've all been in that system a while."\nSampson gave White and his teammates the day off Wednesday, limiting the Hoosiers to just two practices in preparation of Saturday night's home game. Sampson says he knows what to expect from the 49ers and their potent offense, and he especially knows what role he needs his star forward to fill in order for the Hoosiers to be successful Saturday and the rest of the season.\n"You gotta be the biggest, baddest dude in the joint," Sampson said of White. "If somebody wants to mess with me, come on, let's go outside, let's see what you got. That's what (D.J.) needs. He needs to get a little nastier. He needs to get meaner"