Meet The Opponent: Maryland Comes To Indiana After Big Road Win

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – It would have been difficult for Maryland to put together a more impressive performance ahead of its trip to Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.

The Terrapins went into Champaign, Ill., Thursday night and handed No. 17 Illinois, considered by some to be the Big Ten’s best team, their largest loss of the season. Behind dominant efforts from Julian Reese and Derik Queen, Maryland defeated Illinois 90-71 to claim its first conference road win of the season and by far its biggest resume-booster.

It may be difficult to replicate that performance in a second straight Big Ten road game, but Maryland comes to Bloomington with all the pieces it needs to give Indiana a major challenge. After falling 79-70 Wednesday at Northwestern, coach Mike Woodson Hoosiers are desperate to avoid their fourth loss in the last five games as four consecutive top-25 opponents loom on their schedule.

Here’s a full breakdown of Maryland.

Key players

C Derik Queen: 15.6 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 56.2 FG%
G Ja’Kobi Gillespie: 14.4 ppg, 4.5 apg, 42.3 3pt FG%
F Julian Reese: 13.7 ppg, 9.2 rpg, 56.7 FG%
G Rodney Rice: 12.1 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 33.9 3pt FG%
G Selton Miguel: 11.3 ppg, 2.0 apg, 39.6 3pt FG%
F Tafara Gapare: 5.0 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 37.9 3pt FG%
G DeShawn Harris-Smith: 3.6 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 18.2 3pt FG%
G Jayhlon Young: 3.1 ppg, 1.5 rpg, 42.9 3pt FG%
F Jordan Geronimo: 2.6 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 64.0 FG%
G Malachi Palmer: 2.5 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 31.6 3pt FG%

Ja'Kobi Gillespie Maryland Basketball — Maryland guard Ja'Kobi Gillespie (0) drives to the basket against UCLA at Xfinity Center. | Reggie Hildred-Imagn Images

Key departures

(2023-24 stats)

G Jahmir Young: 20.4 ppg, 4.2 apg, 32.4 3pt FG%
F Donta Scott: 11.2 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 33.5 3pt FG%
G Jamie Kaiser Jr.: 4.4 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 26.5 3pt FG%
G Noah Batchelor: 1.7 ppg, 32.4 3pt FG%
C Caelum Swanton-Rodger: 1.5 ppg, 1.7 rpg, 60.7 FG%

2024-25 schedule (15-5, 5-4)

W, 79-49 vs. Manhattan
W, 86-52 vs. Mount St. Mary’s
W, 84-53 vs. Florida A&M
L, 78-74 vs. No. 15 Marquette
W, 108-37 vs. Canisius
W, 76-75 vs. Villanova (neutral)
W, 91-67 vs. Bucknell
W, 86-58 vs. Alcorn State
W, 83-59 vs. Ohio State
L, 83-78 at No. 8 Purdue
W, 111-57 vs. St. Francis (PA)
W, 87-60 vs. Syracuse (neutral)
W, 81-66 vs. Maryland-Eastern Shore
L, 75-69 at Washington
L, 83-79 at No. 9 Oregon
W, 79-61 vs. No. 22 UCLA
W, 77-71 vs. Minnesota
L, 76-74 (OT) at Northwestern
W, 69-66 vs. Nebraska
W, 91-70 at No. 17 Illinois

Head coach: Kevin Willard

Willard is in his third season at Maryland with a 53-35 overall record and a 23-26 mark in Big Ten play with the Terrapins. Maryland reached the NCAA Tournament Round of 32 in Willard’s first season, but went 16-17 and missed the tournament last year. He has a 1-3 record against Indiana.

Willard was previously the Seton Hall head coach from 2010-22 and had a 225-161 overall record and a 105-113 record in Big East play. He led the Pirates to the 2016 Big East Tournament title, 2020 Big East regular season title and was named 2016 Big East co-coach of the year. Seton Hall reached the NCAA Tournament five times under Willard, but never made it past the Round of 32. His first head coaching job was at Iona from 2007-10, a 45-49 run. He was also an assistant coach at Louisville from 2001-07 and with the Boston Celtics from 1997-2001. Willard, 49, played at Western Kentucky and Pittsburgh from 1992-97.

Kevin Willard Maryland Basketball — Maryland coach Kevin Willard against Maryland-Eastern Shore at Xfinity Center. | Reggie Hildred-Imagn Images

Series history

Indiana leads the all-time series, 14-9. Woodson has a 5-1 record against Maryland since the 2021-22 season. Indiana has a 9-7 record since Maryland joined the Big Ten for the 2014-15 season. The Hoosiers won the first four games of the series, with two matchups in 1933-34 in College Park, Md., plus neutral site matchups in 1959 in Louisville, Ky., and 1981 in Dayton, Ohio. Maryland defeated Indiana 64-52 in the 2002 national championship in Atlanta.

Strengths

Maryland leaned on the frontcourt duo of senior forward Julian Reese and freshman center Derik Queen to pick up its best win of the season, 91-70 Thursday night at No. 17 Illinois, which played without starting center Tomislav Ivisic. Reese led the Terrapins with 27 points on 12-for-23 shooting, 17 rebounds and three blocks. Queen had 25 points on 10-for-13 shooting, six rebounds, four assists and three steals.

The 6-foot-9 Reese and 6-foot-10 Queen complement each other well. Reese is a veteran back-to-the-basket forward who scores almost entirely inside and ranks top six in the Big Ten in rebounds and blocks per game. Queen is tough to stop in the paint, too, but he’s also more comfortable handling the ball and distributing from the high post and beyond the arc. He averages two assists per game and will attempt the occasional 3-pointer, though he’s just 2 for 21 on the season. They pose an intriguing matchup against Indiana center Oumar Ballo (14.5 ppg, 10.2 rpg) and power forward Malik Reneau (13.3 ppg, 5.7 rpg), who returned from a knee injury Wednesday at Northwestern but went 0 for 6 in 11 minutes.

Derik Queen Maryland Basketball — Maryland center Derik Queen (25) against Minnesota at Xfinity Center. | Reggie Hildred-Imagn Images

Junior point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie has been one of the best transfer guards in the Big Ten this season. Coming over from Belmont, Gillespie ranks fourth in the conference with 47 3-pointers made, and he has the third-highest percentage, 42.3%, among Big Ten players with at least 100 attempts. He’s also sixth in assists and steals. The other Hoosier guards have a tough task to contain Gillespie’s speed, shooting and playmaking abilities.

Maryland is a well-rounded team in many ways. It ranks 31st nationally in adjusted offensive efficiency, 28th in field goal percentage, 86th in 3-point percentage, 85th in free throw percentage and 315th in turnovers per game. It’s perhaps even better on the defensive end, ranking 16th nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency and top five in both steal and block percentage.

Weaknesses

Maryland can look to its entire starting lineup for scoring, as all five average double-digit points. But after that? The Terrapins don’t have great depth. Former top-30 recruit DeShawn Harris-Smith hasn’t yet panned out at Maryland, regressing from 7.3 points per game as a freshman to 3.6 as a sophomore and losing his starting job. He’s a career 37.9% shooter and hits just 19.8% from 3-point range.

The other main pieces off the bench – Tafara Gapare, Jayhlon Young, Malachi Palmer and former Hoosier Jordan Geronimo – are not major scoring threats. If Indiana’s bigs can limit Reese and Queen inside, or get Gillespie into foul trouble, Maryland may not feel confident about relying on its bench for significant minutes on the road.

It’s possible Maryland got over its road woes with Thursday’s win at Illinois, but it has historically struggled away from home under Willard. Prior to the Illinois win, Maryland had the second-lowest road winning percentage in Big Ten games – 16.7%, or 4-20 – since Willard took over in 2022-23. The Terrapins lost their first four conference road games this year to Purdue, Washington, Oregon and Northwestern.

Season and game outlook

Maryland was picked to finish 10th in the preseason Big Ten poll, and that’s looking a bit low based on its 5-4 start in conference play and KenPom predictive metrics that favor the Terrapins in nine of their final 11 games. Maryland is 20th in the NET rankings, good for fifth among Big Ten teams, with a 2-4 Quad 1 record and a 3-1 Quad 2 record. It’s also ranked 22nd nationally by KenPom and 13th by Bart Torvik despite not being ranked in the AP Top 25 poll all season. Joe Lunardi gave Maryland a No. 9 seed in his latest Bracketology.

Julian Reese Maryland Basketball — Maryland forward Julian Reese (10) drives against Minnesota at Xfinity Center. | Reggie Hildred-Imagn Images

KenPom predicts a 77-73 Maryland win at Indiana and gives the Terrapins a 64% chance of victory. ESPN Analytics gives similar odds at 63.3% in favor of Maryland. Every game is crucial the rest of the way for Indiana – listed Friday as one of the first four teams out of the tournament by Lunardi – but especially home games. Indiana will hope Reneau is closer to full strength Sunday than he was Wednesday at Northwestern, as he and Ballo face a challenging matchup against Reese and Queen. The Hoosiers must also reduce their turnovers and improve their 3-point defense from Wednesday, as they face a Maryland team that excels in those areas.