The inaugural game of the conference schedule for Maryland basketball began on the road in the always-hostile Assembly Hall for a battle with the Indiana Hoosiers, a game that had the potential to spark a turnaround for the Terps.
Similar to how the majority of road games have gone over the last season-plus, Maryland struggled to find any real offensive rhythm and was outmatched from the opening tip, eventually falling to Indiana, 65-53.
A three-game win streak put Maryland back over .500 to enter its first Big Ten tilt, but the size and atmosphere of what many call the toughest conference in college basketball proved to be too much to handle.
“We did some things to start the game that makes you scratch your head, to be honest with you,” Maryland head coach Kevin Willard said. “I don’t mind a freshman going out there and missing or doing some stuff, but we have some older guys right now that are just doing stuff that you’re like, ‘what are we doing, you can’t do that.'”
“If that’s the way it’s going to be then I am going to make some major changes,” he added.
Kel’el Ware (18 points and 14 rebounds) was dynamic on both ends for Indiana. His 7-foot frame posed a challenge for the Terps around the rim, as he altered shots and made it difficult for Maryland to find any consistency throughout the night.
“When you go up against [Indiana’s size] for the first time, that kind of rattles you a little bit,” Willard said. “We had a lot of misses around the rim. We’re letting our offense really dictate our defense, especially on the road.”
The duo of Jahmir Young and Julian Reese once again provided Maryland’s only real offense. The two combined for 34 of Maryland’s 53 points and received little help from the remainder of the starting five.
Young led the scoring for the Terps with 20 points on 6-of-14 shooting from the field. He did most of his work at the free-throw line, connecting on 6-of-7, but struggled to find his outside shot by going 1-7 from three.
Reese (14 points and 8 rebounds) held his own against his first opposing front-court in conference play. The junior forward battled Ware on the interior about as well as he could, but the length of Indiana’s front-court caused issues all night.
As advertised, Indiana was dominant inside the paint. The Hoosiers outscored Maryland 40-26 in that department and played to its strengths with ease. Indiana took only nine threes on Friday night and placed a clear emphasis on attacking the rim. Entering the game, the Hoosiers ranked second-to-last in the conference in three-point percentage. Maryland was out-rebounded 46-30 in the loss.
The glaring issue surrounding Maryland’s offensive attack has been its inability to shoot the ball from the perimeter. After an 8-20 showing in the previous win over Rider, the Terps fell back into their old habits and shot a dreadful 2-of-16 from three against Indiana.
A recurring theme of Willard-coached teams has been its ability to full-court press after made baskets, but this becomes ineffective if his team is unable to score on a consistent basis.
Indiana jumped ahead early, starting 4-of-6 from the field to grab an 8-2 lead. Turnovers remained an issue for Maryland, as two quick ones led to easy looks on the interior for the Hoosiers, who quickly established themselves on the interior.
Maryland started 2-of-8 from the field as the Hoosiers increased their lead to 16-4. The deficit grew as the half continued, with Indiana leading by as many as 15 before Maryland trimmed it to 12 at the halftime break. The Terps shot just under 43% from the field in the first half, but missed opportunities at the free-throw line, going only 3-7.
Five-star freshman Mackenzie Mgbako chipped in 11 first-half points alongside Ware’s 12.
The Hoosiers opened the second half on a 10-3 run to take a 50-31 lead. Reese picked up his fourth foul with just over 13 minutes remaining in the half and was forced to sit, which seemed to take the wind out of Maryland’s sail.
DeShawn Harris-Smith was quiet for the first 30 minutes of his first Big Ten game but showed Willard some signs of growth down the stretch.
“It was his first Big Ten game in Bloomington for the first time,” Willard said of Harris-Smith’s first-half hesitancy. “There are nerves, he’s still a freshman. I’m glad he was able to fight through that.”
As for his veterans, Willard shared a different outlook.
“We have guys that are just watching [Trey Galloway] and looking around who are fourth, fifth-year seniors. That’s just, if that’s the way it’s going to be, well then I’m going to make some major changes.”
A late 12-2 surge led by Harris-Smith provided the first real signs of life for the Terps as they cut the lead to 12, but that was as close as they would get. A basket by Ware and free throws from Malik Reneau helped Indiana pull away in the final three minutes.
Donta Scott scored only two points on 1-8 shooting for Maryland before being benched early in the second half. The fifth-year senior continues to be up and down so far this season.
Scott’s struggles, coupled with scoreless performances from Jordan Geronimo and Jamie Kaiser Jr. left too much room for error for the Terps, who fell to 4-4 with the loss.
“Disappointed with the way we played, but this is Big Ten basketball, we’ve got to get back and get ready for Penn State,” Willard said.
Maryland is now 2-11 in road games under Willard. The Terps will welcome Penn State to College Park for its second conference game on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.
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