Nothing about Maryland men’s basketball’s performance in its loss against Indiana was new.
The Terps once again got off to a slow start. Maryland continued its struggles on the road against Big Ten opponents under coach Kevin Willard. The Terps’ poor three-point shooting continued to harm them in their conference opener on Friday.
Willard’s squad failed their first Big Ten test after a three-game winning streak at home and now sits at 4-4 through their first eight games. To address the struggles that have plagued the Terps on the road and so far this season, Willard said he could “make some major changes” after their loss to the Hoosiers.
While some of the Terps’ issues are new this season, Friday’s Big Ten road defeat was the Terps’ 10th in 11 away games under the second-year coach. Their only victory in conference play away from College Park came against a Minnesota team that finished 9-22 last season.
The Terps trailed at halftime in eight of their nine Big Ten away losses last year. In those eight games, Maryland’s average deficit was 10.75 points at the break. The Terps scored 28 first-half points — their second-lowest total of the season — and trailed Indiana by 12 at halftime on Friday.
“We did some things to start the game that just, it makes you scratch your head to be honest with you,” Willard said. “I don’t mind a freshman going out there and missing or doing some stuff, but we have some older guys right now that are just doing stuff that you’re like, ‘What are we doing? You can’t do that.’”
[Maryland men’s basketball falls to Indiana in Big Ten opener, 65-53]
Willard’s squad continued to misfire from three-point range, shooting a season-low 12.5 percent from three and finishing 2-for-16 from deep. The Terps are the third-worst three-point shooting team in the country this season — their 22.7 percent mark ranks 360th out of 362 Division I teams.
The Terps avoided further defeats during their three-game home stretch against inferior opponents after a 1-3 start, but early season struggles of this magnitude weren’t something they had to contend with last year. Looking perhaps too far in the future toward Maryland’s postseason prospects, the Terps are left with a lot of ground to make up in conference play.
Maryland is No. 210 of 362 Division I teams in the NCAA’s first NET rankings of the year after earning the No. 6 spot in last year’s first rankings when the Terps started 8-0.
Maryland didn’t lose to any quad three or four opponents last season, but already have three losses classified as such this year. All four of the Terps’ wins this season have come against quad four opponents. Their only remaining opportunity for a quad one or two win on their nonconference slate is Dec. 22 against UCLA, which currently sits at No. 103 in the NET rankings.
Maryland will have a bit more time to find solutions to its early struggles with just two more games against power-conference opponents in December before the Terps fully dive into Big Ten play in January. But Willard hinted at his willingness to make adjustments before then.
“We have guys that are just watching [Trey Galloway] and looking around who are fourth-, fifth-year seniors and that’s just — if that’s the way it’s gonna be, well then I’m gonna make some major changes.”
[Kevin Willard’s trust in his assistants has them flourishing and his coaching tree growing]
Willard subbed Donta Scott out of Maryland’s loss to Indiana with 11 minutes remaining, and the fifth-year senior didn’t return to the court. He finished with two points in just 22 minutes, one of his lowest totals of the year, as the coach deployed a lineup of Jahmir Young, DeShawn Harris-Smith, Jamie Kaiser Jr., Jordan Geronimo and Julian Reese for nearly the remainder of the game.
Despite going scoreless in his 19 minutes, Willard praised Kaiser for his second-half performance. The coach called the freshman “that Energizer bunny that I’m looking for.”
Willard’s first chance to make any changes will come in the Terps’ second Big Ten game against Penn State at home on Wednesday. The Nittany Lions are also 4-4 and are currently on a four-game losing streak, with their most recent defeat coming against Bucknell at home.
A return to Xfinity Center, where the Terps are 20-1 and undefeated in conference play under Willard, offers Maryland an opportunity to get back on track and address the issues they’ve dealt with this season against a struggling Big Ten opponent.
