Rapid Reaction: Indiana Gets Crushed on the Road Again

Indiana's second Big Ten road game had the same result as the first — a blowout loss. This time it was Maryland, who won on Saturday, 75-59.

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Indiana had its worst offensive performance of the year on Saturday at Maryland and, naturally, it led to a a blowout loss to the Terrapins. The Hoosiers, who made only 1-of-their first 15 3-point attempts, got beat 75-59.

It was the second straight blowout loss on the road in the Big Ten for Indiana, having lost by 20 to Wisconsin last month. And the final score was even deceiving because Indiana scored the last 11 points of the game.

The Hoosiers, who have never won here in College Park since Maryland joined the Big Ten in 2014, are now 11-3 overall and 1-2 in the Big Ten.

No. 15-ranked Maryland is 12-2 and 2-1.

The Hoosiers were within five points early in the second half, but a wild run late by the Terrapins made the score ugly when they went on a 23-3 run.

Three-point shooting has been a problem for Indiana lately, and they continued a disturbing trend on Saturday. Indiana had shot just 17-of-76 from 3-point range — a meager 22 percent — in its past four games and it only got worse. Their second made 3-pointer on Saturday came when they were already down 30 points with 3 minutes to go.

The game didn't start as bad as it finished.

After getting boat-raced early in their first Big Ten road game, trailing Wisconsin by 15 in the first six minutes back on Dec. 7, Indiana knew it needed to play with more energy Saturday. The Hoosiers did just that, especially on the defensive end, holding Maryland to just 8 points in the first 10 minutes to take a 13-8 lead.

But then the Hoosiers went cold themselves. After Devonte Green hit a 3-pointer at the 9:35 mark to make it 16-all, Indiana went more than 7 minutes without a field goal. They missed nine shots in a row from the field before an Al Durham jumper made it 24-20. 

The half ended with Indiana behind 28-20. The Hoosiers shot just 28 percent from the field and made just 1 of 7 3-pointers. ,

Indiana fell behind 33-22 early, but then went on a nice run to get the lead down to three at 36-33. Justin Smith had got aggressive driving to the basket and had two scores, as did Joey Brunk.

But then Indiana wasted four straight possessions. Smith missed a 3-pointer — he's made only 2 of his last 13 long-range attempts — and Indiana turned it over twice, and the Terps quickly pushed the lead back to 11 at 44-33.

Maryland kept getting every loose ball and started to push the lead out. Jalen Smith scored a basket right as the shot clock expired and, after another Indiana turnover, scored at the other end on a dunk by Donta Scott to make it 53-38 with 8:53 to go.

Green led Indiana with 18 points, but 13 of those came in the final few minutes in garbage time. No one else was in double figures. For the game, Indiana shot just 36 percent from the field and 61 percent from the line.

NEXT UP: Indiana returns to Bloomington for two home games this week. The Hoosiers play Northwestern Wednesday night and get Ohio State on Saturday.