Maryland men’s basketball fell to Purdue, 93-63, on Feb. 1, extending its losing streak to three games.
The Terrapins (8-13, 1-9 Big Ten) have now dropped three straight contests to top-15 opponents by an average margin of 30.7 points. Maryland lost by 19 at Illinois on Jan. 21, by 43 at Michigan State on Jan. 24 and by 30 to Purdue.
Maryland will look to regroup when it hosts Ohio State on Feb. 5 at 8:30 p.m.
“I think that in the second half at Illinois, we were dramatically better than we were the first half. We were not competitive from start to finish at Michigan State, in my opinion, on either side of the ball,” Maryland head coach Buzz Williams said. “We’ve tried to revamp a lot of different things this particular week.”
“I think any team that plays three top-15 teams with two of them being on the road, you’re probably up against it,” Williams added.
Purdue entered the matchup on a three-game skid of its own, but the Boilermakers unleashed their frustrations on a struggling Terrapins squad that never led at any point. The atmosphere inside Xfinity Center resembled a Purdue home game as the Boilermakers quickly built a 10–2 lead.
That advantage increased to 25-7 with Purdue shooting an efficient 60 percent from the field. Meanwhile, Maryland remained ice cold — mirroring the weather outside — as turnovers and missed shots piled up.
A brief spark arrived when redshirt freshman guard Andre Mills knocked down a 3-pointer to cut the trim Purdue’s lead to 28-18 with less than six minutes left in the half. But the momentum evaporated almost immediately after a three from Purdue guard Braden Smith, who finished with 19 points, including 14 in the first half.
Purdue continued its barrage from deep behind senior guard Fletcher Loyer, who scored 10 points in the final three minutes of the half. His surge pushed the Boilermakers’ advantage to 25 points, 49-24, with 46 seconds remaining in the half. Loyer, averaging 12.4 points per game, finished with a season-high 29 on 7 of 10 shooting from beyond the arc.
Purdue went 15 of 30 from 3-point range overall.
“I think our turnovers in the first half led to some of those threes for [Loyer] and [Smith],” Williams said.
Mills provided four quick points in the final seconds before halftime — two at the free-throw line and a steal leading to a dunk — sending Maryland into the break trailing, 49-28. Mills was one of the lone bright spots for the Terps, finishing with a season-high 18 points. Freshman guard Darius Adams added 17. Both have a chance to impact the team in 2026-27.
“Most freshmen, as you know, at some point, they kind of hit a subliminal wall,” Williams said. “Because of all that’s transpired with our roster, they haven’t had a chance to see that wall and we can’t allow them to feel it, either. I give a lot of credit to the coaches. They’ve done a really good job with those two guys. Those two guys are hungry to learn.”
Mills and Adams also work out together daily after practice, contributing to their chemistry and performances.
“After practice every day [Williams] has us making 20 layups. So, 10 is halftime, and then we’ll switch,” Mills said. “It’s helped us a lot, honestly. It just gave us more confidence, and it’s starting to show little by little.”
“I would say the same thing,” Adams said. “Just the consistency of us doing it every day, because we literally do it every day. The fact that [Williams] just takes time out of his day to help us out shows how good a person he is.”
The second half followed the same script. Maryland briefly cut Purdue’s lead to 18 before a 10-0 Boilermakers run stretched the margin to 71-43. Purdue eventually built its largest lead of the night — 32 points — with less than six minutes remaining, as its fans’ “Let’s go Boilers” chants filled the arena and were met by scattered boos.
Whether those booing were directing their frustration at the opposing fans or at Maryland’s performance, however, was unclear.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Maryland Athletics