THE FUR WAS FLYING

In a pitched-battle, with bodies crashing and whistles shrieking , the Indiana Hoosiers outlasted the Salukis 57-47 Sunday night. SIU's Jamaal Tatum led all scorers with 17, and spent most of the evening driving to the rack like a guy skateboarding across an 8-lane expressway. Regretably, he was about the only Dawg who got across. Facing an Indiana defense which was efficient and relentless, SIU slumped noticeably in the last ten minutes. Passes vectored off to destinations unknown. Southern's offense collapsed. Meanwhile, Indiana drove the lane time and time again.

The repeated shrilling of the officials' whistles sounded like a riot on the docks. Hoosiers trod to the foul stripe for 31 free tosses, although for most of the game their efforts resembled men trying to throw a cow through a keyhole. Indiana's A.J. Ratliff put up 14 points, followed by Armon Bassett with 11. Coach Kelvin Sampson's halftime rant to his troops electrified them and they bounded out of the locker room and took charge. For his part, the Indiana sideline commander perfected the art of the 40 inch vertical bound from a sitting position and dashed up and down the sidelines working the refs to exhaustion. His counterpart, Chris Lowrey of SIU, was serious and squared away in a tailored suit.

The Dawgs maintained their characteristic unemotional demeanor despite the hystrionic atmosphere and the gesticulations of their pumped up opponents. If should be noted that Tony Boyle's chilling glare is matchless in televised sports. We dig it , Dawg. Losing stinks, but the Hoosiers earned the victory. ESPN's announcing crew was pretty impressed by the manic intensity. They pronounced the Dawgs "Cut, like middleweight boxers".. the game a "streetfight" and "a Toughman Contest". Southern's squad was cited as one of the most physically fit teams in the nation...each man capable of completing a triathlon, etc. etc. All this was commendable, and perhaps accurate, but have you ever seen a college basketball player who was just a big slug? I thought not.

It was noted that Indiana had played their best game of the year and even better than in a 3 point road loss at Duke. If SIU had not come unglued down the stretch the game was winnable. Certainly Coach Lowrey will take chalk in hand to continue teaching. There's plenty of snarl left in these Dawgs. Central Michigan will call at the Arena on Wednesday night.