Maryland falls 83-78 at No. 8 Purdue despite late push

Photo by Maryland Athletics

In their first true road game of the 2024-25 season, Maryland men’s basketball (8-2, 1-1 Big Ten) just didn’t have enough to take down No. 8 Purdue (8-2, 1-1 Big Ten), falling 83-78 at Mackey Arena for the seventh consecutive time Sunday afternoon.

The Terps fought hard against Matt Painter’s Boilermakers and held the lead with a little over seven minutes to play in the second half. But Purdue’s Braden Smith and Trey Kaufman-Renn took over down the stretch, going on several unanswered scoring runs and dominating the second-half rebounding.

Despite the loss, Maryland received solid performances from the same guys who have been getting it done all season.

Freshman center Derik Queen notched 26 points and 12 rebounds for his fourth double-double and second in as many Big Ten games. Junior guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie added 18 and made four of seven from three-point range.

“We’ll go back, watch film, we’ll learn from this. But I’m proud of the way our guys battled for 40 minutes,” head coach Kevin Willard said after the game. “On the road in this conference – this is what it’s like every game.”

Senior forward Julian Reese fell victim to foul trouble early in the second half, ultimately fouling out with 6:25 left in the game. He finished with five points and seven boards in just 23 minutes on the floor.

With Reese unavailable, Queen found himself in a back-and-forth battle with Kaufman-Renn for the vast majority of the second half. The junior finished with 21 points and eight rebounds, including a few punishing scores underneath that ignited the Mackey Arena crowd.

Not to be outdone, Smith, a junior guard, finished with 24 points and 10 assists for his fourth double-double. Smith’s 4-for-5 from range in the second half provided some huge momentum swings for the Boilermakers.

Willard implemented a 2-3 drop zone for much of the game, which contributed to a dreadful 2-for-10 from three for Purdue in the first half. As Smith and junior guard Fletcher Loyer found their touch from deep in the second, though, the zone setup was abandoned.

The game saw 15 lead changes and was tied 13 times. The teams took the same amount of shots and the same amount of three-pointers. No margin was particularly wide in any category besides points in the paint, which Purdue won 42-32 in part due to Reese’s unavailability.

“We tried to make some adjustments. Without Ju in there, we weren’t able to adjust. I thought that really hurt us,” Willard said.

While the Terrapins forced single-digit turnovers for just the third time this season, they shot 42.3% (11-26) from beyond the arc, good for second-best on the campaign. Queen made his first two three-point baskets of the year, attempting five in the game.

Maryland’s record against Purdue falls to 6-10 all-time, now having lost four of the last five.

The Terps will be back in action after an eight-day break, set to face the St. Francis (PA) Red Flash of the Northeast Conference Dec. 17 at XFINITY Center.