Maryland men’s basketball dominated by No. 1 Purdue, 67-53

Maryland men’s basketball has had trouble generating consistent offense all season long. The Terps flashed signs of improvement over a successful recent stretch of games, but they struggled badly on that end against the nation’s top-ranked team.

Maryland’s five-game winning streak was snapped on Tuesday as the Terps (9-5, 1-2) fell to No. 1 Purdue (13-1, 2-1), 67-53, in College Park.

The Terps were looking to recreate some of the magic from their signature win over the Boilermakers at the Xfinity Center a season ago, but never established a rhythm offensively to allow that to happen.

Maryland shot just 33.3 percent from the field and 22.7 percent from 3-point range in a dismal offensive showing. Purdue head coach Matt Painter said forcing the Terps into perimeter shots was “absolutely” a staple of his team’s gameplan.

Purdue quickly jumped out to an 8-0 lead, forcing coach Kevin Willard to use a timeout just over two minutes in. After beginning the game by helping off shooters to double Zach Edey inside, Maryland went into a zone defense for the majority of the remainder of the half. It slowed the   potent Purdue offense down until the break, but the Boilermakers quickly pulled away in the second half.

“We tried to double [Edey] and he kicked out and they made a three, then we didn’t try to double him and he made a bucket.” Willard said.

Maryland shot just 7-for-28 from the field in the first half. After taking a 32-19 lead into the locker room, Purdue opened its lead to 20 points less than four minutes into the second half. The Boilers never trailed and led by as many as 22. 

“Purdue is by far the best team in the country, but for them to come in here and do this to us on our home court – that should be a little bit of an eye opener for everybody.”

Jahmir Young, who missed Thursday’s game against Coppin State with an illness, returned to Maryland’s lineup tonight and delivered another quality performance. He shot 12-for-23 from the field to lead all scorers with 26 points.

But as has been a common theme this season – Maryland was unable to get much out of anyone not named Young on the offensive end. Its next-highest scorer was Jordan Geronimo with nine points. The Terps entered Tuesday with the 134th-ranked offense in Division I according to KenPom offensive efficiency, and did very little to improve on that mark.

“We had a lot of good looks, missed a lot of open ones, missed a couple bunnies and it led [Purdue] to offense,” Donta Scott said.

Maryland, which ranks last in the Big Ten with 11.2 assists per game, dished out a season-low five assists as a team on 21 made shots.

Young’s preseason All-Big Ten counterpart, Julian Reese, continues to struggle to find the basket. Being assigned with challenging the reigning National Player of the Year is no easy task, but Reese held his own against the 7-foot-4 behemoth in both of their matchups last year.

That was not the case on Tuesday. Reese was held scoreless from the field, while Edey poured in 23 points on 8-for-13 shooting and grabbed 12 rebounds.

“They loaded up the paint. They made it hard for [Reese] to get post touches,” Willard said. “But he’s got to realize that he’s number one on the scouting report and he’s got to bring it a little bit more than he has the last couple of games.”

The loss was Maryland’s first at the Xfinity Center in more than a calendar year, snapping a 19-game home winning streak. More importantly, it represents a missed opportunity – Maryland is well out of the NCAA Tournament picture and without a Quadrant One win. A win Tuesday would have been a massive boost to a dry resume.

Maryland will look to get back into the win column on Sunday when it travels to Minnesota, where the Terps picked up their lone Big Ten road win a season ago.