Eleven months ago, Maryland pulled the biggest upset of its season against Purdue, knocking off the then-No. 3 team in the country and eventual National Player of the Year Zach Edey in front of a raucous Xfinity Center crowd — the high point of coach Kevin Willard’s first campaign.
This season’s matchup between the two featured many of the same characters. But Maryland now feels light years away from that frenzied peak.
Edey recorded a double-double with 23 points and 12 rebounds, and Maryland’s offensive struggles beyond Jahmir Young and his game-high 26 points continued as the No. 1 Boilermakers won easily, 67-53, Tuesday night, snapping the Terrapins’ 19-game home winning streak.
“If you look at their schedule — you look at who they’ve played, where they’ve played — it’s the best team in the country,” Willard said. “But for them to come in here and do this to us on our home court, that should be a little bit of an eye-opener for everybody.”
Edey, the Big Ten’s leader in scoring, rebounding and shooting percentage, asserted his dominance early, with 12 first-half points, including three dunks. But it was balanced scoring from his running mates that was key throughout, with 14 points from Braden Smith and 11 points from Lance Jones helping the Boilermakers secure a wire-to-wire victory in a place where they’ve struggled to do so in recent years.
“We fared just like everyone else has this year — not well. He’s much more improved,” Willard said of the 7-foot-4 Edey. “I think his conditioning is improved from last year. He’s going over both shoulders a little bit better. And he’s a willing passer.”
Young, the newly-crowned Big Ten Player of the Week, carried Maryland (9-5, 1-2 Big Ten) on 12-of-23 shooting, his sixth performance of 20 or more points in his last seven games. Willard said Young did so amid recovering from an illness that caused him to miss five of the last seven days of practice.
“I’m feeling much better than I did before,” Young said. “It’s really just like my wind a little bit, just a little fatigue a little earlier than usual, but other than I’m feeling much better.”
“I’m really happy with the fact that he fought through it,” Willard said. “He kind of got his legs back in the second half. So to me, that was the most encouraging thing. It’s why I kept him out there so long.”
The rest of the Terrapins, however, were unable to pick up the slack. His teammates only managed to shoot 22.5% collectively (9-of-40), and forward Julian Reese, who starred going up against Edey last season, didn’t muster a point in 34 minutes of play.
“He’s kind of struggled at times,” Willard said. “He’s got to realize that he’s number one on the scouting report and he’s got to bring it a little bit more than he has the last couple games.”
From the start, Maryland dug itself a hole they wouldn’t be able to get out of. The Terrapins turned the ball over on their first two possessions — part of their eight total in the half — and only made two field goals in the first 10 minutes: a Donta Scott jump shot and a Jaime Kaiser Jr. three. Purdue built its lead to 19-7 during that period as Maryland shot 2-of-13 from the floor.
Purdue (13-1, 2-1) entered shooting a conference-best 38.4% from three-point range and improved on their average, knocking down 45% from distance (9-of-20) and 46.3% overall.
“They shot it really well from three and obviously we didn’t. I just felt like our defensive rotations, we were a little behind,” Young said. “I feel like we did a pretty decent job on Edey. He’s such a dominant player. But other than that, it’s just the defensive rotations. We didn’t guard the three well, and we didn’t shoot it well.”
The Boilermakers used snappy perimeter passing and sets that worked the ball into Edey and back outside to create separation and shot opportunities, which they made at a frequent pace. After leading by 13 at the half, Purdue came out with a burst, breaking off an 11-4 run in the first four minutes and stretching its margin to 20, 43-23.
“Give them credit for the fact that offensively, they really moved the ball,” Willard said. “I mean, they do that well. They work through him, and when he’s passing that way, they’re gonna get open shots.”
Maryland wouldn’t get closer than 14 after that as the Terrapins suffered their first home loss since last December against UCLA and their first Big Ten defeat in College Park in nearly two years, the last coming against Iowa on Feb. 10, 2022.
“I do think these kinds of games are good for us in the fact that I think some of these guys will kind of can see where we’re at,” Willard said.
• George Gerbo can be reached at ggerbo@washingtontimes.com.
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