3 Takeaways From Maryland's Massive Loss to Purdue

Buzz Williams' ill-fated first season in College Park is not getting any better.

Maryland Terrapins head coach Buzz Williams walks to the court before the game against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Xfinity Center. | Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

As if it wasn't already clear before Sunday, Maryland Terrapins head coach Buzz Williams hasn't exactly received the warmest welcome to the Big 10 Conference in his first season with the team after spending six in the SEC with Texas A&M.

But Sunday's loss to the Purdue Boilermakers was simply abysmal, with the Terrapins falling 93-63, dropping them to 8-13 on the year, and a disastrous 1-9 in conference play.

Even with the game taking place in front of the home crowd at the Xfinity Center in College Park, it made no difference as the Terrapins dropped their third straight game of the 2025-26 season.

Three Takeaways From Maryland's Loss

Maryland Terrapins guard Andre Mills (7) shoots in between Purdue Boilermakers guard Omer Mayer (17) and guard Gicarri Harris (24) during the second half at Xfinity Center. | Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

With Sunday's travesty in the books, here are a few takeaways from the contest:

Shots Are Not Falling

The Terrapins' struggles with shooting the rock were evident during Sunday's loss, making only 19 of 49 shots (39 percent), which dropped their overall season percentage down to 40.2 percent, which is dead last in the Big 10 Conference.

The shots at the free throw line weren't bad, with 19 of 25 finding the bottom of the net, and three pointers were made at a 35 percent rate, which isn't horrendous, but it seems just the overall shot selection and make percentage of the team has been at an all-time low for the entire season, and can be pointed at as a massive reasoning for the team's struggles in their first season under Williams.

Simply Couldn't Win A Thing

The Terrapins were outscored in just about everything by the Boilermakers. Purdue's overall field goal percentage, three-point percentage, free throw percentage, and rebounding total all tallying up to more than the Terps, while the only thing Maryland had more of were turnovers, and they had 12 compared to Purdue's eight, another monumental reason for the loss.

Lose the turnover battle, lose the game.

Turnaround To Come?

The meeting with Purdue marked Maryland's third straight game against a ranked conference opponent, but their next six games on the schedule as of now are all against unranked Big 10 schools, and last time they had a match against an unranked opponent was against Penn State, where they achieved their first (and so far, only) conference win of the season.

Maryland's next three games come against the Ohio State Buckeyes, Minnesota Golden Gophers, and Iowa Hawkeyes, three teams currently running in the middle-lower end of the pack in the Big 10, which could give the Terrapins some confidence going forward.

That is, if the team can start hitting their shots and start getting more aggressive when cleaning the boards.

Maryland and Ohio State tip off Thursday night at 7:30 PM from College Park.

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