Some fans step over the line

As far as basketball games go, Thursday night’s Illinois-Indiana meeting was top-rate entertainment and probably the most exciting game Illini fans are going to see this year.

In the stands, it was the good, the bad and the ugly.

One of the big questions before the doors opened was whether the Illini fans would do anything to embarrass themselves in front of a national cable television audience.

Eric Gordon’s arrival was reason for fans, in large part the student sections, to break out their chants and rants and go a little crazy. The atmosphere reached an intensity that I haven’t seen in my three years covering Illinois.

“I wasn’t really worried about it,’’ Gordon said. “The only thing I worried about was trying to get a win.’’

The Orange Krush members who sit courtside were largely within the limits of good taste, sticking to calling Gordon a liar and a traitor while booing the Indiana guard every second he possessed the ball.

There were shirts that targeted Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson (”Cheater’’ said one over a photo of Sampson on a cell phone). One student was dressed as a cell phone.

But in the upper reaches of Assembly Hall, a group of students erupted into a profane rant against Gordon on numerous occasions, the first coming during a quiet moment right after the national anthem. And it was allowed to go on and on and on.

Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson was asked if he thought the fans ever stepped over the line.

“I heard the stuff they said during warmups,’’ Sampson said. “But once the game started, I just heard the noise and couldn’t make out what they were saying.’’

Eric Benz, the vice president of the Orange Krush, told me earlier this week, “We won’t sit there and cuss people out. That’s not even fun. That’s rude and crude. We want to get under people’s skin.’’

The Orange Krush stuck to that philosophy. The non-Krush students who embarrassed their school should have been warned and if the chant continued they should have been asked to leave and had their ticket privileges stripped for the season.

Then with the game winding down, someone reportedly tossed ice and water at the Indiana cheering section, where a large group of security guards had gathered to make sure things didn’t get out of control.

These are the types of stories that get spread around the country and impact a school’s reputation and someone at Illinois should be distressed about what transpired.

Things were even a bit chippy on the court. Chester Frazier body bumped Gordon at midcourt during the player introductions. The move was explained away as an energetic player getting a little too aggressive, a theory even Sampson espoused.

“I thought it was more of a hyped, friendly bump,’’ he said. “I didn’t think it was anything malicious. He’s a tough kid. I don’t think he was trying anything hyperkinetic.’’

Frazier’s antics, his defense and the crowd’s wild side clearly had an impact on Gordon’s first-half performance.

He nearly dropped a pass while arguing with an official about a non-call. He committed a pair of offensive fouls, traveled and missed all of his shots. But he bounced back to score 19 points, including a 3-pointer that forced overtime.

And when he files for the NBA draft, he’ll never have to worry about returning to Assembly Hall.

“We’ve played at Minnesota and Southern Illinois, and those are tough places,’’ Sampson said. “The only difference was this was a little more personal.’’