Clank. \nThat’s how freshman guard Eric Gordon made his debut in an IU uniform Friday night at Assembly Hall.\nAfter his controversial de-commitment from Illinois and a year of anticipation from the IU faithful, Gordon’s first play as a Hoosier in Assembly Hall was a missed slam dunk during warm-up drills at last Friday’s Hoosier Hysteria.\nCoach Kelvin Sampson laughed when asked about the dunk, saying he thought Gordon did well “for a low-pressure event.”\n“I looked at him and said ‘Dude, you aren’t nervous, are you?’” Sampson said.\nDespite that small mistake, for the second year in a row, Gordon was the main focus of fans attending the annual kickoff to the basketball season. \nBefore the introductions, members of the team began jumping up and down in the entrance to the court chanting “Er-ic Gor-don.” The chant quickly spread around Assembly Hall, as fans followed the players’ lead.\nAfter a quick warm-up period, the players were split into two teams and scrimmaged for 10 minutes. Gordon and sophomore guard Armon Bassett led the cream team to a 24-15 victory over the crimson team featuring senior forwards D.J. White and Lance Stemler. Gordon scored eight points on two 3-pointers and a massive dunk while adding two assists.
Bassett, Crawford win competitions\nFollowing the scrimmage, Gordon, Bassett, Stemler, White, senior guard A.J. Ratliff and freshman guard Jordan Crawford competed in the 3-point shootout. \nAfter losing to Gordon in the first round, Bassett forced a rematch in the competition’s final by defeating Crawford in the semifinals. Bassett edged out Gordon in the men’s final by a score of 16-15. Bassett next defeated IU women’s player Jamie Braun for the overall championship.\nBut Bassett was worn out by having to go four rounds in a short amount of time.\n“I just want to win, period,” Bassett said. “(I was) so tired, too tired. Maybe I could have done some better dunks if I didn’t have to go four times in a row.”\nBassett was joined by Crawford, Gordon, freshman forward Brandon McGee and junior DeAndre Thomas in the dunk contest.\nCrawford stole the show by showcasing three quality dunks for the crowd. He started off the competition by bouncing the ball off the scoreboard for an alley-oop dunk. In his second attempt, Crawford went through his legs while dunking. In the final, Crawford defeated McGee by bouncing the ball off the floor and catching it while jumping over a rack of basketballs to complete the dunk.\nSampson was impressed by the dunk exhibition put on by the team.\n“Last year, we almost had to cancel the dunk contest halfway through,” Sampson said. “This year it was pretty good. That dunk contest would be good against anyone’s team. Last year’s dunk contest I went ‘Wow, I thought that kid was athletic.’”
Holman, Thomas honored by Sampson\nFreshman center Eli Holman and Thomas were honored by Sampson once the team took the floor. On Friday, after concerns about his eligibility were raised earlier in the year, Holman was cleared to play by the NCAA Clearinghouse. There had been concerns about the possibility of Holman getting permission to play by the NCAA Clearinghouse. \n“I am so proud of every single player on this team,” Sampson said. “I would like to single out a couple of guys though. I want to congratulate Eli Holman for becoming eligible to play.”\nThomas was honored for dropping his weight under 300 pounds.\n“Now I don’t want to make too big of a deal about this, but this is what persistence and hard work will get you,” Sampson said. “When DeAndre Thomas got here, he weighed 356 pounds. This morning, DeAndre weighed 298 pounds. It’s amazing what you can accomplish with a little hard work.”
