Purdue Basketball Preview: Game 10 — Maryland
Coming off a loss at Penn State to open Big Ten play, Purdue aims for a December split Sunday when it hosts Maryland.
DETAILS: Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024 | Noon ET | TV: BTN (Brandon Gaudin, Robbie Hummel) | Radio: Purdue Radio Network
PURDUE (7-2, 0-1 B1G): ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS
MARYLAND (8-1, 1-0 B1G): ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS
A FEW THINGS ABOUT PURDUE
• Purdue’s coming off a turnover-plagued loss at Penn State Thursday night in which the Nittany Lions scored an astonishing 32 points off 24 Boilermaker turnovers, 15 of them from veterans Trey Kaufman-Renn, Fletcher Loyer and Braden Smith.
In two losses this season — both on the road against high-pressure teams — opponents have scored 50 total points off 39 turnovers.
• Strangely, Purdue has lost six of its eight Big Ten openers since December conference play became a thing in 2018, so being 0-1 is nothing new.
ABOUT THIS GAME
• Maryland roasted Ohio State 83-59 this week at the Xfinity Center. Its lone loss thus far was a narrow one to Marquette in College Park, the same Golden Eagle team that beat Purdue in Milwaukee.
• Big man Derik Queen is one of the many impact freshmen in the Big Ten this season — a class full of possible one-and-dones — as he leads Maryland at 16.6 points on 61-percent shooting, as well as 8.3 rebounds. Purdue will have some matchup issues with him around the basket but also will need to really make him assert himself by having to guard inside and out.
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Fellow big Julian Reese is still around, too, after being an all-conference-level player before.
• Guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie averages 14 per game on 52-percent shooting and 40-percent from three. He scored 24 vs. Marquette and 23 vs. Ohio State, so those aren’t empty-calorie numbers.
• Maryland is fifth nationally in defensive efficiency, per KenPom, with a defensive turnover rate of nearly 24 percent.
THREE KEYS FOR PURDUE
| TURNOVERS | REBOUNDING | OFFENSIVE DETAIL |
| Different types of opponents lead to different challenges, but it doesn’t matter who Purdue plays: This is again its greatest concern every time out. | Maryland has great size at the basket, putting the onus on Purdue’s physicality and tenacity in a frontcourt that skews smaller. | Purdue’s got to have a great screening, passing, catching and savvy game against a defense that just held Ohio State under 60. |
GOLDANDBLACK.COM PREDICTION: PURDUE 74, MARYLAND 69
Purdue may very blitz Maryland as if sometimes does to people in Mackey Arena, but expecting that to happen would be a big ask. But it’s not an unreasonable expectation for its three best and most experienced players to bounce back with a vengeance.
