Maryland's stifling defense leads to an easy win over Indiana 75-59
The Baltimore duo in Jalen "Stix" Smith and Darryl Morsell was a big reason why Maryland defeated Indiana by a score of 75-59 Saturday afternoon at the Xfinity Center.
Smith led all players with 19 points in the game. He went 6-of-10 from the field, including 2-of-3 from behind the arc. Stix sparked a 17-7 run to close out the first half that led to a 28-20 lead by halftime.
That lead would become insurmountable for the Hoosiers thanks to the stifling defense by the Terrapins. Indiana's top scorer coming into the game in Trayce Jackson-Davis was limited to only seven points, including 3-of-8 from the field.
Maryland finished the night with four players scoring in the double digits. Smith (19), Anthony Cowan Jr (13), Andrew Wiggins (13), and Morsell (12) all had very solid individual performances that collectively helped push the Terps past the Hoosiers.
The team would still like to see Cowan perform better in both halves. He went 4-of-13 from the field to go a long with 1-of-6 from behind the arc. Maryland did a good job last week against Bryant by not forcing their shots and getting the easy points. This win was a little bit different. Cowan's inefficient day could have costed Maryland the game but the quality performances of his teammates in capitalizing on fast breaks helped cover for the inaccuracies.
With the win, the Terrapins improve to 12-2 on the season as well a 2-1 in conference play.
Next up, No. 15 Maryland will have their biggest challenge of the season as they host No. 5 Ohio State this Tuesday.
