Turtle Time
Indiana men’s basketball will look to bounce back from a tough loss in Evanston when Maryland comes to town for another Quad 1 contest. Both teams have losing records against Quad 1 opponents, so the game would be a resume piece for either squad.
Kenpom currently favors the Terps by four, in part because of their impressive win on the road against Illinois this week. Maryland has struggled away from home for much of the last few seasons, but that looks like one of the better wins in the conference right now.
It’s also no secret that Indiana is not playing its best basketball right now and looks like a team struggling for answers midway through the Big Ten season.
Here are three things to know about the matchup:
The Temperature in the Room
The fans were not happy with Mike Woodson the last time Indiana played in Assembly Hall and the situation hasn’t exactly improved since. An overtime win in Columbus was a temporary bright spot, but the Hoosiers followed it with a fifth straight loss to Northwestern.
So here we are! The fact that this is an early Sunday tip could make it a lighter and quieter crowd, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be tense.
Unless Indiana comes out and looks like world-beaters for a full 40 minutes – something that has yet to happen this season – you can expect the crowd to voice their displeasure.
Even the Northwestern fans in Evanston were getting in on the fun earlier this week with their “We Want Woodson” chants at the end of the last game. Things are not exactly Good right now.
Style of Play
Like recent iterations of Indiana basketball, Maryland’s two best players are traditional post players that do not present much of a perimeter scoring threat. Julian Reese and Derik Queen, who combined for 52 points in the win at Illinois, have attempted a combined 22 3-pointers this year.
That said, the Terps still manage to get more of their production from the perimeter than Indiana does. Maryland has three players Ja’Kobi Gillespie, Rodney Rice, and Selton Miguel who have each taken at least as many 3-pointers as Indiana’s leading shooter, Luke Goode.
Maryland is also hitting its threes at a respectable clip, which, as we saw in Evanston, can really sink Indiana. Woodson will have to find a way to limit Reese and Queen without collapsing the defense too much to be vulnerable to a 3-point barrage.
Doing so without a completely healthy Malik Reneau will also be a challenge, as this was one of the games on the schedule that seemingly favored playing Reneau alongside Oumar Ballo for prolonged stretches. How Woodson will manage this will be huge.
Maryland’s Record
Before the Illinois win, Maryland was a team that the computers liked, but that lacked a quality win. One of the reasons they were so high in the Kenpom and NET rankings despite this lack is that they’ve done something Indiana has failed to do – keep it close in losses.
The Terps only had one marquee matchup in their non-conference slate, but it was against a Marquette team that’s stuck around the Top 10 for most of this year. Losing by four to that team, even at home, is a ‘good loss,’ as those things go.
Maryland also kept it within five in West Lafayette and forced Northwestern to overtime in those losses. This is a team that’s competitive even when things aren’t going well, so expect them to challenge Indiana for a full 40 minutes.