Indiana headed to Maui with a 3-0 record and an offense averaging 92.0 PPG. The Hoosiers left with a 4-2 record that included a pair of losses to middling teams, and now have more questions to answer than they came to the islands with. Here are three issues that stood out the most from watching the Hoosiers play over the last three days.

Coach Tom Crean gave his critics some ammunition after the Hoosiers lost two games in Maui. (Getty)

1. Turnovers, Turnovers, Turnovers: This one goes beyond just the pure numbers. Granted, Indiana did average 17 miscues in their three games on the islands, but it seemed as though the majority of the mistakes were of the junior high variety. The Hoosiers couldn’t catch the ball, threw errant passes after leaving their feet, and generally produced unforced error after unforced error all week. Crean’s system enables Indiana to play with pace, but the Hoosiers were simply out-of-control and reckless with the ball on far too many possessions. They will need to find the happy medium of playing uptempo, yet staying under control to take better care of the ball. This is too gifted of an offensive team to waste scoring opportunities by giving the ball up so often.
2. “Negative Spurtability”: Clark Kellogg loves using the word spurtability when talking about teams that can hit a switch and go on a run at a moment’s notice. Indiana, with its explosive offense, definitely has that ability when everything is clicking. But the Hoosiers also give their opponents the same potential for spurts. There were a couple of instances where they would get things rolling and go on a quick 7-0 run, only to lose all of their momentum by getting lost on defense and giving up a layup, or producing a costly turnover. Even in IU’s lone Maui win against St. John’s, they never truly pulled away from a team that they should have beaten by 30. There was little consistency in this three-game stretch; the Hoosiers need to find a way to limit their opponents’ surges.
3. Thomas Bryant: Much of the reason for high 2015-16 expectations was the arrival of the prized freshman big man. He’s shooting 70 percent from the floor, but is averaging less than seven field goal attempts per game. Why buy an Escalade if you’re just going to keep it in the garage? Bryant needs to do a better job posting up, and needs to calm down emotionally. But the guards and wings also need to do a better job looking for him and improve their entry passes. Getting him the ball early — as the Hoosiers did against St. John’s, when Bryant had double figures in the first 7:10 of action — will only open things up on the outside. When that doesn’t happen (see: UNLV game), Bryant is more apt to force things and lack the confidence to finish.

Luckily for Indiana, it’s still early and there is a good deal of talent that isn’t going anywhere. Still, Crean needs to get his team under control and playing with more consistency, and sooner rather than later. At times this season, the offense has been a thing of beauty. But much like the IU teams of the last couple of seasons, the turnovers and lack of consistent defense could ruin this season before it ever really gets off of the ground.

Brendan Brody (307 Posts)

Brendan Brody is in his fourth season covering the Big Ten for RTC. Email him at brendan.brody@gmail.com, or follow him on twitter @berndon4.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 26th, 2015 at 1:05 pm by Brendan Brody and is filed under big ten, microsites. Tagged: clark kellogg, feature, indiana, Thomas Bryant, tom crean. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.