Close Menu
    Trending
    Sunday, January 26

    IU basketball game day essentials: Indiana back home to host Maryland

    Owen GrahamBy IU Basketball 11 Comments
    Credit - IU Athletics

    Game Day Essentials:

    Indiana (14-6, 5-4) vs. Maryland (15-5, 5-4)

    • Tip Time: Noon Eastern, Sunday
    • Location: Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall (17,222), Bloomington, Ind.
    • Television: CBS (Andrew Katalon, Steve Lappas)
    • Radio: IU Radio Network (Don Fischer, Errek Suhr, John Herrick)
    • Stream: Fox Sports
    • Point Spread:  Maryland is a 4-point favorite
    • KenPom Projected Score:  Maryland 77 Indiana 73
    • History: Indiana leads, 14-9.
    • Last Meeting: IU 83, UMD 78 on March 3, 2024, in College Park
    • Tickets (via our StubHub affiliate link)

    Maryland’s Kevin Willard

    Kevin Willard is in his third season as head coach of Maryland’s men’s basketball program, and 18th season overall at the college level. He has a career head coaching record of 322-245 (.588).

    Willard began his coaching career as an assistant at the pro level with the Celtics from 1997-2001. Willard coached under Rick Pitino with the Celtics and followed him to Louisville after his resignation in 2001. Willard would remain with them until 2007.

    Willard earned his first head coaching role in the Spring of 2007 with Iona. Although he didn’t win any hardware with the Gaels, Willard had an impressive three year turnaround, capped off with a 21-10 overall record in 2009-10 after two 12-win seasons.

    Willard’s most notable stop so far has been with Seton Hall, where he was at the helm from 2010-2022. Across 12 seasons, Willard accumulated one Big East tournament and regular season championship. He also led them to five NCAA Tournament appearances. Willard finished his career at Seton Hall with a 255-161 record.

    Willard has had an impressive start to his 2024-25 season after a few decent seasons. In his first season, he led them to an NCAA Tournament appearance. So far, he has a record of 53-35 with Maryland.

    Maryland’s results and roster:

    DATE OPPONENT LOCATION RESULT
    11/4/2024 Manhattan College Park, Md. W 79-49
    11/8/2024 Mount St. Mary’s College Park, Md. W 86-52
    11/11/2024 Florida A&M College Park, Md. W 84-53
    11/15/2024 No. 15 Marquette College Park, Md.  L 74-78
    11/19/2024 Canisius College Park, Md. W 108-37
    11/24/2024 vs. Villanova (Saatva Empire Classic) Newark, N.J. W 76-75
    11/27/2024 Bucknell College Park, Md. W 91-67
    12/1/2024 Alcorn State College Park, Md. W 96-58
    12/4/2024 Ohio State College Park, Md. W 83-59
    12/8/2024 at No. 8 Purdue West Lafayette, Ind. L 78-83
    12/17/2024 Saint Francis College Park, Md. W 111-57
    12/21/2024 vs. Syracuse (Gotham Classic) Brooklyn, N.Y. W 87-60
    12/28/2024 Maryland East Shore College Park, Md. W 81-66
    1/2/2025 at Washington Seattle, Wash. L 69-75
    1/5/2025 at No. 9 Oregon Eugene, Ore. L 61-79
    1/10/2025 No. 22 UCLA College Park, Md. W 79-61
    1/13/2025 Minnesota College Park, Md. W 77-71
    1/16/2025 at Northwestern Evanston, Ill. L 74-76 OT
    1/19/2025 Nebraska College Park, Md. W 69-66
    1/23/2025 at No. 17 Illinois Champaign, Ill. W 91-70

    Maryland’s game notes (via Maryland Athletics)

    Reese AND Queen Shine Against Illinois

    • The big man duo of Julian Reese (27 points, 17 rebounds – both career highs) and Derik Queen (25 points) powered the Terps past No. 17 Illinois, 91-70, on Thursday night. Maryland had a total of 62 points in the paint which were the most for any Big Ten team this season.
    • Reese and Queen became the first Maryland players to post 25+ points in a game together since Feb. 20, 2011 when Jordan Williams (26) and Terrell Stoglin (25) did it against NC State. It was the first time two Terps had done it in a true road game since Steve Francis (25) and Terence Morris (26) did so at Kentucky (Dec. 12, 1998).
    • In winning by 21 at Illinois, that was Maryland’s largest margin of victory over a ranked team on the road since beating No. 21 Wake Forest, 85-63 (+22) on Jan. 23, 2002.

    Ja’Kobi Showing The Range

    • Since joining the Terps, Ja’Kobi Gillespie has scored in double figures in 16 of his 20 games played.
    • Against No. 22 UCLA, Gillespie set a season-high with 27 points going 4-of-8 from deep and 9-of-9 from the charity stripe. He also had four assists and a season-high four steals in the win.
    • Against No. 15 Marquette, Gillespie had 24 points going 10-of-17 from the floor and 4-of-9 from three point range. That total was just two shy of matching his career-high of 26 points scored against Southern Illinois (2/14/24) when he was at Belmont.
    • Gillespie leads the team with 90 total assists (4.5 per game) giving him 302 for his career. He set a new career-high with 11 in the win over Syracuse as part of his first career double-double (17 pts). The 11 assists were the most by a Maryland player in a game since Melo Trimble had 12 against North Carolina (12/2/15)
    • His 4.5 assists per game rank 6th in the B1G.

    Juju Beast

    • Julian Reese entered the 2024-25 campaign as one of the top post players in the Big Ten and nationally. Last season, he earned All-Big Ten Honorable Mention honors as a junior after being named to the Preseason All-Big Ten Team and to the Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award Watch List.
    • Reese posted 15 double doubles last season which were the ninth most nationally and stood second in the Big Ten during the regular season.
    • All-time, Reese has the eighth-most double-doubles for any Terp (30).
    • Reese is one of nine players in program history to post over 1,100 career points and 800 career rebounds.

    Queen Is The Truth

    • Derik Queen arrived in College Park as one of the most heralded recruits in program history and has lived up to the hype early in the season. From starting his career with a 20/20 double-double to scoring a career-high 26 points at No. 8 Purdue, Queen has quickly shown he is one of the best players in the country.
    • Queen leads Maryland in scoring at 15.6 points per game and is second with 8.0 rebounds per game. His scoring average is the third-best among all-time Maryland freshmen dating back to 1947-48.
    • Since 2008-09, there have been 34 20-point games by Maryland freshmen. In just his first 20 games, Queen already has seven.

    Maryland’s KenPom notable numbers:

    (out of 364 teams)

    Tempo – No. 61 (Offense No. 18 / Defense No. 338)

    Offensive Efficiency – No. 29

    • Maryland has a 55.2% effective field goal percentage so far on the year (No. 38). They have shot 35.8% on 3s (No. 78)  and 56% on 2s (No. 45).
    • The Terps have been taking care of the ball well with a 14.8% opponent turnover percentage (No. 26).
    • They limit both steals and blocks during their possessions, with both opposing rates being in the top 5. (Block – 5.2%, No. 2; Steal – 7.1%, No. 4).
    • Maryland doesn’t get to the free throw line a great deal, with FTA/FGA equaling 31.3%, No. 238.

    Defensive Efficiency – No. 17

    • The Terps are holding opponents to a 47.2% effective field goal percentage on the year (No. 50). Teams are shooting 31% on 3-pointers (No. 61) and 47.6% on 2s (No. 64).
    • They generate turnovers at a 21.9% rate (No. 20).
    • They also limit second chance opportunities with a 25.9% offensive rebound percentage (No. 33).
    • Teams aren’t getting to the line very often against Maryland, with a 26.5% free throw rate (FTA/FGA, No. 35)

    OG’s Pick

    Win/Loss Record: 15-3

    This one is going to be tough to pick in favor of Indiana. Maryland is playing some of their best ball recently, capped off by a 21-point win AT Illinois. And we all know what happened when Illinois came to town…

    I think a lot of this game is going to be decided in the paint. Maryland has a really nice tandem with Reese and Queen, and Indiana has to limit that with Oumar Ballo and Malik Reneau, who still isn’t 100% health-wise. The Terps play defense well in that area though, with a decent block rate and low 2-point percentage.

    This has a chance to get dangerous for the Hoosiers. IU has to play with energy from the jump and win the crowd. If they can sustain it, they have a chance. But that’s a huge if.

    PICK: Maryland 76 – Indiana 67

    For complete coverage of IU basketball, GO HERE.    

    The Daily Hoosier –“Where Indiana fans assemble when they’re not at Assembly”

    Keep Reading