Last season, Maryland men’s basketball exceeded expectations and was especially dominant at home, finishing with a perfect 10-0 record at Xfinity Center in conference play.
But the Terps struggled mightily on the road. They went 1-8 on the road against conference opponents. Furthermore, Maryland has lost 11 of its last 13 true road games since the beginning of last season.
Those road struggles continued as Maryland (4-4) lost at Indiana (6-1), 65-53, in its Big Ten conference opener on Dec. 1 at Assembly Hall. The Terps are now 0-4 away from Xfinity Center this season.
“We did some things to start the game that make you scratch your head, to be honest with you,” head coach Kevin Willard said. “I don’t mind a freshman going out there and missing or doing some stuff, but we have some older guys right now that are just doing stuff that you’re like, ‘What are we doing?'”
Maryland and Indiana were the two worst 3-point shooting teams among power conference schools entering the matchup. Indiana adapted and used its size in the frontcourt to pound the rock inside.
Hoosiers sophomore center Kel’el Ware gave Terps junior big man Julian Reese his most difficult matchup of the season thus far. Ware used his lengthy 7-foot frame to score around the rim and over the smaller 6-foot-9 Reese.
“Even from the offensive end, I think their length and size, we haven’t seen that,” Willard said. “When you go up against it for the first time, that kind of rattles you a little bit, too.”
Ware led all Indiana scorers with 18 points and posted a game-high 14 rebounds. Ware, Malik Reneau (11 points) and Mackenzie Mgbako (13) formed a trio of frontcourt underclassmen to all reach double-digit scoring.
Indiana attempted just nine 3-pointers the entire game, making three of them. It instead scored 40 points in the paint and outrebounded Maryland by 16.
Reese held his own, finishing with 14 points, eight rebounds and two steals, but he was caught in foul trouble for a large portion of the second half. Jahmir Young was the only Terp who consistently contributed on the offensive end. He tallied 20 points on 6 of 14 shooting.
Overall, the Terps were unable to make adjustments and had another rough night shooting from the field. They shot a season-low 13 percent from three (2-for-16), and were unable to make up for the struggles with easy looks inside. Indiana’s defense consistently forced long possessions and wild shots.
“We had a lot of misses around the rim, even in transition. You’ve got to take advantage,” Willard said. “… We’re letting our offense kind of really, really dictate our defense, especially on the road.”
Senior forward Jordan Geronimo spent his first three seasons of college basketball playing for Indiana, but his return to Bloomington was disappointing. He made an impact defensively with two steals and a block but remained scoreless throughout.
Indiana scored its first 10 points in the paint and strung together several long scoring runs around the rim. The Hoosiers led by as many as 23 points and the Terps never led at any point during the game.
A late 10-0 run by the Terps cut into the deficit, but the result remained the same. Maryland returns home for its Big Ten home opener against Penn State on Dec. 6.
“We have too many guys that are messing up the game,” Willard said. “Disappointing, disappointed in the way we played but this is Big Ten basketball. We’ve got to get back and get ready for Penn State.”
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