Maryland men’s basketball took on No. 8 Purdue in its first true road test of the season, but fell 83-78.
The Terps are now 8-2 on the season, while the Boilermakers picked up their first conference win of the year.
Here are three takeaways from the game.
Maryland failed its first road test, kind of
The Terps’ trip to West Lafayette, Indiana, was their first game in front of an away crowd this season. And that crowd was at a packed Mackey Arena, one of the most hostile environments in college basketball.
Head coach Kevin Willard entered the contest with a 6-17 record on the road at Maryland, and while the Terps added to that losing record Sunday, fans should feel more encouraged than deflated by the result.
Maryland led by five points at halftime and had a real shot at pulling off an upset until Purdue put together a 10-point advantage with two minutes remaining.
The Boilermakers offer one of the most experienced set of starters in the conference, led by Braden Smith, Trey Kaufman-Renn and Fletcher Loyer, who are all juniors and have started together for two seasons now. If there’s any team that could have caught Maryland off-guard with an impactful home crowd on its side, it was Purdue. But the Terps stuck around.
Derik Queen and Ja’Kobi Gillespie were particularly impressive in their first Big Ten away game. Queen posted a career-high 26 points and 12 rebounds, all while trash talking Purdue’s student section, and Gillespie recorded 18 points and four assists, hitting a myriad of difficult 3-pointers.
On the road against one of the country’s best teams, Queen proved to be worth all the hype and Gillespie showed he belongs in a high-major conference.
“This was the first road game for us,” Willard said. “What I’m really excited about is when they came at us in the second half, we came back and retook the lead.”
Maryland’s defense battled with one of the nation’s best offenses
Heading into Sunday, Maryland boasted one of the best defenses in the country. It ranked 11th in points allowed per game (58.7) and was KenPom’s No. 6-ranked team in defensive rating, which measures points allowed per 100 possessions and is adjusted for opponent difficulty.
Meanwhile, Purdue was KenPom’s No. 10-ranked team in offensive rating and averaged 77.8 points per game in a tough nonconference slate.
Maryland’s defense dominated the first half, holding Purdue to 31 points on a 37.1% field goal percentage and 20% 3-point percentage. But the Boilermakers unlocked their offense in the second half, improving in nearly every aspect. They scored 52 points on 61.3% shooting from the field and 43.8% from 3-point range in the second half, although they committed four more turnovers in the half.
The driving force behind Purdue’s resurgence was Kaufman-Renn, who scored 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting in the second half, drastically improving on his six-point first half on 2-of-8 shooting. But Smith was the Boilermakers’ engine all day, finishing with a team-high 24 points and 10 assists.
Reese struggled again
Maryland needed a strong paint presence on both ends against the Boilermakers, but Julian Reese did not step up. In 23 minutes, he tallied just five points on 2-of-6 shooting, seven rebounds, two blocks, two turnovers and five fouls.
On the offensive end, Reese struggled when he was on the court. He had trouble fitting in Maryland’s offensive flow and did not receive or generate easy looks consistently. But on the defensive end, he played well, especially when guarding Kaufman-Renn.
Reese’s foul trouble allowed for a big second half for Kaufman-Renn, and his absence was painfully noticeable in the game’s final five minutes, when Reese fouled out and the Terps looked frantic without their senior leader.
“We lost the ability to pound it inside, where they were able to pound it inside with Kaufman-Renn,” Willard said. “I got to manage his fouls better.”
In Maryland’s only other ranked game this season against No. 5 Marquette, Reese scored just two points. If he cannot stay in the game and play well against ranked opponents, there won’t be many upsets in the Terps’ future.
