Indiana coach Bob Knight is hoping that sophomore forward Alan Henderson, who missed the last two games because of damaged ligaments in his right knee, will return to the lineup this season.
“He had an arthroscopic examination Monday but we don’t know exactly what he did to the knee because there’s still some swelling,” Indiana spokesman Gregg Elkin said Thursday.
“We’ll see if he can rehab and eventually come back and play. If there has to be surgery maybe it can be delayed until after the season, which would still give him time to recover.”
The Big 10 leaders’ next game is Saturday at Minnesota. Gophers coach Clem Haskins also has injury problems-starting forward Jayson Walton (sprained right ankle) and backup point guard Townsend Orr (separated left shoulder) missed Wednesday’s 79-60 victory at Northwestern.
“It’s 50-50 for Saturday,” said Haskins. “Orr will have X-rays. Walton doesn’t have any broken bones, so there’s probably a better chance he could play.”
NU: Northwestern coach Bill Foster was disappointed with Wednesday’s result but had nothing but good things to say about his junior point guard, Patrick Baldwin.
“He’s like a windup toy,” said Foster. “You wind him up and he keeps going, hustling all over the place and playing as hard as he can on both ends of the floor for 40 minutes. And, if it goes into overtime, he keeps going for another five minutes.”
In 35 minutes against the Gophers, Baldwin had 11 points (on 5-for-11 shooting), six assists, five rebounds and a steal.
In contrast to Baldwin, NU’s other outstanding junior, 6-foot-11-inch junior Kevin Rankin, had an off night, thanks in part to an outstanding defensive effort by Minnesota’s 6-9 sophomore Chad Kolander.
Rankin was limited to nine points and turned the ball over five times.
Illinois: In November, Brooks Taylor seemed destined for a forgotten senior season. But the 6-4 guard from De La Salle has quietly become one of the most trusted players on Lou Henson’s bench.
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“He’s not turning the ball over, he’s rebounding and he’s playing good defense,” the Illini coach said. “He doesn’t have any negatives.”
Well, there’s one small negative. Taylor is so reluctant to shoot that opposing defenses are ignoring him. Taylor has attempted only 27 shots in 275 minutes (he’s made eight, for a 30 percent average). Henson’s asking Taylor to shoot more often to keep the opposition honest. But that’s meant changing orders given to Taylor in the preseason.
“In the past, some of the time when he would go into the ballgame, he would shoot quickly and try to get playing time by scoring, and consequently, the other parts of his game suffered,” Henson said. “What we told Brooks before the season is to concentrate on other things.”
Among those “other things” is a tendency to be the Illini’s enforcer. He’s tied with Tom Michael for third on the team with seven blocked shots, and he may be first in intimidation. In a game at Michigan in January, Wolverine center Chris Webber cut short a post-dunk strut when Taylor slipped an elbow into his chest. And Taylor clashed with Indiana star Calbert Cheaney two weeks ago in Bloomington.
Loyola: Unless the Ramblers win one of their three remaining games, they will set a school record of 15 losses in a row.
Loyola plays at Dayton Saturday, at home against Butler next Thursday, and at Evansville March 7. Coach George Ireland’s 1970-71 team and coach Lennie Sachs’ 1939-40 squad share the school mark of 14 straight losses.
De Paul: Kris Hill has shaken his midseason slump just in time for De Paul’s stretch run. The 6-8 Oak Park native and junior-college transfer had eight rebounds in 18 minutes as the Demons made TCU their third straight victim.
Hill averaged more than 10 rebounds a game before his slump. Coach Joey Meyer said Hill is back in top form and will receive more playing time in future games, unless Meyer is forced to use a smaller quicker lineup to match the speed of opponents who start three or four guards.