Maryland men’s basketball lost to Indiana, 84-66, on Jan. 7.
Five Maryland players scored in double digits, led by senior forward Elijah Saunders (16 points), but it wasn’t enough to top the Hoosiers.
The Terrapins are still searching for their first conference win of the season, dropping to 7-8 overall and 0-4 in the Big Ten.
“We’ve got to continue to find ways to improve,” Maryland head coach Buzz Williams said. “Whether you’re at home, whether you’re on the road, we’ve got to continue to search for these margins of improvement and chase after it with a relentless spirit of, ‘Where is one other thing?’ And that, for sure, is me at the front of this. I’ve got to do a better job.”
Indiana controlled the second half, using two decisive runs — 7-0 and 9-0 — to build its largest lead of the game at 17 points, pushing the score to 61-44 with 11 minutes to play. Maryland tried to chip away but never got closer than 13 as the Hoosiers maintained control the rest of the way.
The Terrapins opened the second half strong, trimming the deficit to 39-38 with a 7-0 run and looking to regain its first lead since 16-15 late in the first half. But that momentum quickly faded as Indiana’s response put the game out of reach.
Hoosiers guard Lamar Wilkerson fueled the surge, scoring 16 points in a four-minute span and even going on a personal 7-0 run. He finished with 24 points after only six in the first half.
“We had a big emphasis coming into the game on stopping their best shooters, and I feel like in the first half, we were able to do that,” Saunders said. “In the second half, some of their guys, who they rely on heavily, got hot.”
Both teams traded baskets in the first half, with Maryland leading most of the way until Indiana rattled off a 14-2 run, fueled by free throws, to take a 23-16 lead. During that stretch, Indiana made 10 free throws while Maryland struggled to score and turned the ball over.
“We didn’t do [well] when they missed it,” Williams said. “We gave up way too many offensive rebounds. That would be the first thing, and then the second thing, we fouled too much.”
Maryland’s defense was solid in the first half, holding Indiana to just 9 of 26 shooting from the floor. However, the Hoosiers finished a perfect 16 of 16 from the free-throw line, compared to Maryland’s flawless but limited 6 of 6.
Despite that disparity from the line, the Terrapins kept it close and entered halftime down only five, 36-31. Guard Tayton Conerway led Indiana with 13 points before finishing with 19.
Maryland will look to find answers when it travels to face UCLA on Saturday, Jan. 10, at 8 p.m. EST.
“In some ways, I think we’ve stopped losing, and we’ve had momentum in the process of all of this. We just haven’t had momentum in the results,” Williams said. “… We’re making progress, but the scoreboard doesn’t say it and Buzz Williams, in his first year at Maryland, is 0-for [in the Big Ten]. And I have no justification for that, other than I’ve got to do better and I’m going to try the best I can with the right attitude and the right tone to continue to find ways to study, to help these guys.”
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Maryland Athletics