Indiana committed 14 turnovers and lost to Maryland Wednesday, falling to 1-3 in Big Ten play after starting the season No. 11 in the nation and climbing as high as No. 3. Hoosiers forward OG Anunoby was largely unspectacular off the bench, contributing just five points on 2-of-9 shooting; he did, however, manage to pull off the rare feat of performing a Dementor’s kiss on Maryland’s Damonte Dodd:
Anunoby has been snatching souls on a fairly consistent basis over the past year—the life forces of Louisville’s Anas Mahmoud, UNC’s entire team, and Michigan State’s Kenny Goins have all been bronzed and now rest comfortably on Anunoby’s mantle.
Meanwhile, Indiana is 11-6 and 1-3 in the Big Ten so far this season, a far cry from where many, myself included, thought the Hoosiers would be at this point. Head coach Tom Crean’s team has continually struggled to manage its turnover margin and currently ranks 324th in the nation with 261 turnovers, or 15.3 per game, per SportsReference. The Hoosiers looked impressive in wins against top-10 teams Kansas and UNC, but are still 2-4 against ranked teams on the season and have inexplicable losses to Nebraska and IPFW.
So, in terms of watchability, the Hoosiers are just about as perfect a team as one could want: they run an explosive high-scoring offense and laid-back defense, are prone to being upset, and boast a sixth man who can look down while he dunks all over those foolish enough to jump.