White leads Hoosiers to victory against Iowa

The Iowa Hawkeyes just couldn't stop \nD.J. White.\nIn 35 minutes of play, IU's big man racked up a career-high 23 points and 12 boards during IU's 71-64 victory Tuesday night against Iowa. \nThe performance gave White his second consecutive double-double and his fifth of the season.\nThe junior forward said after the win that his improvement in conditioning is a big reason for his recent spike in performance.\n"I feel myself running better," White said. "Early in the year that's one thing Coach was on me about. The last couple games I did that a lot better."\nIU coach Kelvin Sampson said after the game that while White's conditioning has improved, other aspects of his games are coming along as well. \n"He's just learning to play both ends now. He's really becoming a dependable defensive rebounder," Sampson said. "Saturday against Penn State he had six offensive rebounds. We keep challenging D.J."\nDuring a particular three-minute, 27-second stretch during the second half of the game, White took control. The big man scored seven points during the stretch while also dishing out an assist to senior guard Rod Wilmont and snagging three rebounds. His play helped the Hoosiers increase their lead to 19 \nat 60-41. \n"I felt good tonight," White said of his performance. "Our point guards (freshman) Armon (Bassett) and (senior) Earl (Calloway) did a good job of utilizing the pick-and-roll a lot, and that freed me up."\nThe 6-foot-9 White drew the responsibility of defending 7-foot Iowa center Seth Gorney, who scored the Hawkeyes' six points in the first four minutes of the game. But despite being undersized against Gorney, White held the Hawkeyes' center to just six from there on out. He also collected two blocks and committed no fouls in the contest.\n"He's maybe as good as any big man in our league right now," Iowa coach Steve Alford said of White. "He's playing with a lot of confidence right now and they're doing a good job of getting him the ball."\nDespite White's big day, the Hawkeyes outscored the Hoosiers 32-22 in the paint and 17-11 on second-chance points. But Wilmont turned in another strong scoring day with 15 points, adding five boards. Bassett also scored in double-digits with 10 points.\n"D.J. doesn't have to score 20 for us to win. ... We got enough guys that can score around D.J.," Sampson said. "D.J.'s just now starting to score big. This just makes us a better team."\nWhite has now tallied four games this season with 20 or more points. His previous season-high came just 10 days ago during the Hoosiers' Jan. 7 victory against Michigan State, when he scored 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the floor.\n"D.J.'s getting better. He's much better today than he was a month ago," Sampson said. "And that's a good thing for us"