Heading into Tuesday night’s matchup with No. 23 Indiana, Bruce Weber took a simple approach to the Kelvin Sampson/Eric Gordon saga: “If we get great energy from the crowd and it helps us motivationally, then it’s a good thing.”

Sure enough, Sampson’s welcome to Assembly Hall was anything but royal. The Orange Krush jeered Indiana’s first-year coach with chants of “Call me, Kelvin,” “Read the bylaws,” and “Don’t call us, we’ll call you.” And with an upped security presence, one Krush member was escorted to the exits.

But aside from the recruiting situation and an awkward pre-game handshake between coaches that Sampson referred to as “not nearly as big a deal as (the media) make it out to be,” Illinois’ players were focused on getting their first win of the season against a Top 25 team.

“You definitely hear it, but once the ball gets going and moving around the court, you just kind of get focused on the game and the team out there, the strategies and the execution that you need to do to win the game,” senior forward Warren Carter said.

Weber zoned out all the other distractions for the Illini (15-7, 3-4).

“Coach never brought it up once,” said Carter, referring to off-the-court circumstances. “It was Illinois versus Indiana tonight. None of the behind the scenes stuff at all.”

Although Sampson had never coached in Champaign, he said he watched enough games on TV to know that Illinois fans were “great.” Even with all of the chants against him, Sampson still thought of them in the same way following the game. The story line, he said, didn’t revolve around the recruitment of Gordon, but in Illinois proving to be the better team Tuesday night.

“I just want to get home and make my team better; I don’t care about that other stuff,” Sampson said.

Battle of the Big Men

Even with a sprained knee, junior center Shaun Pruitt managed 10 points and 13 rebounds. Pruitt admitted his left knee was stiff, but he was able to limit D.J. White to 12 points (5-of-8 shooting) and eight rebounds. The Hoosiers’ (14-5, 4-2) leading scorer was the only Indiana player to score in double figures.

Pruitt had played against White previously and was looking forward to one of the Big Ten’s top players.

“I matched up with him at NBA camps and All-American camps, and we’ve got some history of playing against one another, so we were both psyched for this game,” Pruitt said. “It was just a battle. I just love playing against great players, and it was great experience, great opportunity for me.”

The Illini had 20 paint points, compared to the Hoosiers’ 10, and an advantage in second-chance points: 12 to 7.

Hard-Nosed Battle

With Illinois’ players riddled by injuries, Weber has adopted the “It’s not as bad as it seems” motto. In getting its first win against a Top 25 team, Weber hopes the Illini have learned the art of finishing games – even if it came in a scrappy game in which Illinois managed just 17 field goals.

“It was just an old fashioned Big Ten border war game,” Weber said. “That’s what Kelvin is. I’m not being negative. He gets his kids to play, and they play defense, and they’re tough, and you have to deal with it.”

Injury Update

Junior forward Brian Randle’s status for the game against Purdue this weekend is questionable, Weber said.

Randle is suffering from plantar fasciitis, a foot injury affecting the heel. He suffered the injury in the win against Minnesota. Coupled with the groin surgery earlier in the season, Weber is worried about the amount of pain Randle can deal with.

“I think they are going to put him in a boot,” Weber said. “I think he has gone through so much; he is mentally whipped, and I don’t know if he can take it.”

Pruitt’s status for this weekend’s game will be determined at practice on Thursday.

In the loss to Wisconsin, Pruitt sprained his right knee, and after playing 32 minutes against Indiana, it’s Weber’s hope that the knee injury will not get worse.

“We found a brace for him, and he’s come a long way,” Weber said.

“Now the problem is can he play Saturday. What we have found is that they get that emotional adrenaline and play in the game and then we can’t have them for practice for two days,” he added.

Quote of the Game

“We need a bye week, so if anyone has any connections with the Big Ten, maybe they can switch something for us.”

-Weber referring to the makeup of Illinois’ schedule and the quick turnaround to Saturday’s game against Purdue.