Indiana Basketball: 3 takeaways from the Hoosiers’ game against Duke
By Brian Rauf
1) Turnovers continue to be a problem
Indiana is not a team that has taken care of the ball to this point. They came into the game against the Blue Devils ranking 242nd in the country in turnover percentage, giving the ball away on 20.6 percent of their possessions.
And yet, Indiana had one of their worst games in terms of turning the ball over with 20 on the game. It wasn’t just a problem with one or two players, either. Eight different players had at least one turnover and six – including every starter – had multiple.
Duke is at its best in transition and head coach Archie Miller stressed limiting turnovers coming into the game. They didn’t, and the Blue Devils made Indiana pay, turning those turnovers into 24 points (including a few highlight-reel dunks from Zion Williamson).
Duke is a really, really good team and Indiana didn’t need to give them any help. Moving forward, Duke is obviously not the only good team the Hoosiers are going to play this season. If Indiana wants to finish among the top teams in the Big Ten and make the NCAA Tournament as expected, they’re going to need to beat some good teams.
The Hoosiers certainly have the talent to do so, but they have to stop beating themselves and take much better care of the ball.