Wilmont, White lead Hoosiers to victory

Confidence is something D.J. White and the Hoosiers have been striving for all season long. Saturday afternoon in Hartford, Conn., confidence is what White and his teammates found.\nAfter dropping 21 points and tallying three blocks against the Huskies, the junior forward summed up IU's 77-73 victory with that very word: confidence.\n"That's probably the one word I think of," White said in a post-game press conference. "We have a long season ahead of us and a lot more tough road games. It's just building our confidence going into tough environments."\nWhite and senior guard Rod Wilmont sparked the Hoosiers' offense with a combined 44 points. Wilmont nailed five of eight 3-pointers in the contest and finished the day 8-of-11 shooting from the field. He also nabbed three steals and five rebounds.\n"They were just huge today," IU coach Kelvin Sampson said of the two players at the press conference. "We ran a little set for Rod coming off a screen out of a timeout and he knocked down a huge three. Not only did D.J. score the ball, he did a really good job of passing the ball." \nDespite White and Wilmont's performances, the Hoosiers struggled to keep the Huskies from grabbing offensive rebounds; Connecticut outrebounded IU 19-6 on the offensive end. The Huskies also racked up 46 points in the paint during the game and held a 21-0 advantage in second-chance points. \n"I think today was a case of a team bending, but maybe not breaking," Sampson said. "Connecticut, especially when (Stanley) Robinson is at the three, they're a hard team to keep off the offensive boards. At our end, we made a decision not to attack the boards as much offensively as much as getting back on defense."\nBesides Wilmont and White, freshman guard Armon Bassett also scored in double-digits, with 13 points. Bassett got the Hoosiers off to a hot start with three 3-pointers and also hit four free throws down the stretch of the game. Senior guard Earl Calloway scored just five points in the win but dished out eight assists with just two turnovers.\nWilmont said Saturday's victory exemplified the team game the Hoosiers, now 14-4 on the year, strive for.\n"From day one, coach just came in and we took it upon ourselves to get together as a team and listen to whatever coach tells us to do," Wilmont said at the press conference. "Our main thing is sticking together, and that's exactly what we did"