Maryland basketball had all the momentum in the world. Coming off a record-setting blowout against Ohio State, they headed to Purdue with a chance for one of their biggest wins in years. And midway through the second half, they were well-positioned to get it, using a quick 8-0 run to take a five-point lead. It looked like they’d taken control of the game.
Then it all fell apart. What went wrong?
The defense failed … Kevin Willard’s teams have always been known for their defense, and this one’s been good on that end. But that’s largely because of how opportunistic it’s been in forcing turnovers, ranking in the top 20 nationally. They’ve had trouble at times in the halfcourt and transition, never more so than the final eight minutes today. Purdue scored 26 points during that stretch, almost all of them from stars Braden Smith and Trey Kaufman-Renn. This team is more talented offensively than most of Willard’s teams, but perhaps not as good in man-to-man, halfcourt defense.
Willard has used a drop coverage on high screens, dropping his big men to defend the paint and asking his guards to fight through the mess and defend the ballhandler. It might be his only option with two big men, Derik Queen and Julian Reese, on the court so much. It’s worked so far this season, with Maryland ranking 37th nationally in 3-point defense (27.8 percent). But it didn’t work today. Purdue repeatedly used high screens to get open threes, especially in the second half, when they made seven of 16 from deep after a 2 for 10 first half that ended with Maryland holding a five-point lead.
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And despite a big size advantage, Maryland was outscored in the paint, 42-32, with Smith using his quickness to get into the lane and Kaufman-Renn using his strength and quick feet to bully his way to layups.
That said, a loss at Purdue isn’t a major failure. The Boilermakers have won 24 in a row and 36 of their last four Big Ten games at Mackey Arena. So it was a solid showing for a new team in its first major road trip.
Queen and Gillespie shine, but ... Queen continued his incredible freshman season, posting 26 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks on 11-18 shooting. He also made his first two three-pointers of the season after missing his first 10. That will be part of his game moving forward and he should hit them at a higher rate. Gillespie continued to look like a top-line Big Ten point guard, scoring 18 points and dishing four assists. His ability to tap dance and prod at the defense until he sees a scoring window is reminiscent of Melo Trimble. One nitpick: he does have a bad habit of noticing the open man a second too late, costing them some open shots in the paint.
But they didn’t get help from Maryland’s third big name, Julian Reese, whose career-long rivalry with fouls continued. The senior center fouled out with more than six minutes left after scoring five points on 2 for 6 shooting. Reese has posted good numbers (13 points and 8.3 rebounds on 63.1 percent shooting entering today), but he’s been a no-shot in their two losses, today and a two-point performance against Marquette. Queen has averaged 22.2 points and 10.3 rebounds on 65 percent shooting in Maryland’s four games against power conference opponents Purdue, Ohio State, Villanova and Marquette, while Reese has averaged 8.3 points in those games.
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Maryland’s supporting cast has been good, but it was invisible today. Tafara Gapare’s sudden surge, during which he’d averaged 13.7 points and 2.6 blocks in a three-game span, ended in an 0-for-3 performance that included a couple of painful turnovers. The bench totaled three points one 1 for 5 shooting in 40 minutes. DeShawn Harris-Smith remains a non-factor on offense, hesitant to attack.
The good news: they shot 11 for 26 from three (43.3%) and appear to be gaining confidence there recently. Rodney Rice (5-12, 13 points) made three, Gillespie made four and Selton Miguel (13) made two.
The run that sealed it … Maryland appeared to be taking control of the game after back-to-back threes by Queen, who has five 20-point games and four double-doubles in 10 games, and a Harris-Smith layup. But Purdue coach Matt Painter called a well-time timeout. Kaufman-Renn scored six points in less than a minute to spark a 10-0 run that frew to a a 20-5 run that turned the game on its head and put Maryland out of contention. With Reese out of the game, Purdue had an easier time scoring at the rim.
Maryland has a chance to lick its wounds, with nine days off before hosting St. Francis on December 17.
Former Michigan coach John Beilein said on BTN’s postgame show: “They went into that building and they controlled 30 minutes of that game. That bodes well for the future. I know it’s a loss, but it’s OK.”
