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    IU Basketball game day essentials: Indiana hosts Maryland in Big Ten opener

    Owen GrahamBy IU Basketball 5 Comments
    Photo credit - Maryland Athletics

    The Hoosiers open up their conference season with a home matchup against the Maryland Terrapins on Friday night.

    Although Maryland is off to an uneven start, Indiana is in no position to look over a conference opponent this early on in the season.

    Here’s everything you need to know about the matchup.

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    Game Day Essentials:

    Maryland (4-3) vs. Indiana (5-1)

    • Tip Time: 7:00 p.m. Eastern, Friday
    • Location: Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall (17,222), Bloomington, Ind.
    • Television: BTN (Brandon Gaudin, LaPhonso Ellis)
    • Stream:  Fox Sports
    • IU Radio Network: IU Radio Network
    • Point Spread:  Indiana is around a 3.5 point favorite.
    • KenPom Projected Score: No. 72 Indiana 70 – No. 58 Maryland 68
    • Series: Indiana leads series, 12-9.

    Maryland’s Kevin Willard

    Kevin Willard enters his second season as the Maryland men’s basketball head coach. In his first season, Willard led the Terps to a 22-13 overall record and a NCAA Tournament Second Round appearance. Willard became the first coach in Maryland program history to achieve 20 wins, a national ranking, and a berth to the NCAA Tournament in his first season.

    Prior to Maryland, Willard had an extended campaign in Seton Hall, earning a 225-161 record over his 12 years with the Pirates. He led Seton Hall to the Big East Tournament Title in 2015-16 and the regular-season title in 2019-20. He also earned Big East Coach of the Year honors in 2016.

    Willard began his head coaching career at Iona. He went 21-10 in his third and final season at the helm, earning himself MAAC Coach of the Year in 2010.

    Prior to the start of his career as a head coach, Willard was an assistant and associate head coach for six years at Louisville, where he was mentored by Rick Pitino. Willard also worked as an associate to Pitino with the Boston Celtics after following him to join the Cardinals in 2001.

    Maryland’s Jordan Geronimo

    Jordan Geronimo returns to Assembly Hall as a Terrapin as he takes on his former team.

    Geronimo played his first three seasons as a Hoosier before entering the transfer portal and committing to Maryland after the 2022-23 season. Across 82 appearances at Indiana, Geronimo averaged just over three points and 2.7 rebounds a game.

    Since joining Maryland, Geronimo has started five of the seven total games. He’s averaging 7.1 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. Geronimo has also had two games where he went for double figures, with 14 points against South Alabama, and 15 against Rider.

    Maryland’s results and roster

    11/7/2023 Mount St. Mary’s College Park, MD W 68-53 Box Score
    11/10/2023 vs. Davidson Asheville, N.C. L 61-64 Box Score
    11/12/2023 vs. UAB Asheville, N.C. L 63-66 Box Score
    11/17/2023 at #21 Villanova Philadelphia, PA L 40-57 Box Score
    11/21/2023 UMBC College Park, MD W 92-68 Box Score
    11/25/2023 South Alabama College Park, MD W 68-55 Box Score
    11/28/2023 Rider College Park, MD W 103-76 Box Score

    Maryland’s game notes (via Maryland Athletics)

    DONTA SCOTT CONTINUES RECORD BOOK CLIMB

    Donta Scott became the 59th player in program history to reach 1,000 points last season. Through seven games this year, he now has 1,392 points and 734 rebounds. He is also the 17th Terp to post 1,300 points and 600 rebounds in a career.

    Scott is now 24th all-time in scoring and needs seven points to move past Dez Wells (1386, 2012-15) for 23rd. He needs 13 more boards to pass Maryland all-time great Len Bias (745, 1982-86) for No. 12 all-time.

    FEAR THE JAHMIR

    Entering his first year at Maryland, many questioned Jahmir Young’s ability to translate his scoring from C-USA to Power 5 play. Young’s response was a team-best 15.9 points and 3.1 assists per game. Last season, he had eight 20-point games including a season-high 30 against No. 24 Ohio State.

    In Big Ten play, Young was magnificent averaging 17.7 points. He was also the third-leading rebounder (4.6) overall, led the team in steals (44) and had the fourth-most blocked shots (13). Young is the 2nd-ranked active player for overall scoring with 2,085 points and is ninth for scoring average at 16.4 points.

    JUJU BEAST

    After a breakout sophomore campaign that saw Julian Reese become one of the top big men in the Big Ten, the Baltimore native enters 2023-24 with high praise. Reese joined Jahmir Young on the Preseason All-Big Ten Team and was named to the Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award Watch List.

    Reese showed his impact for the Terps in 2022-23 as he scored in double-figures in 22 games with a career-high 24 points against Coppin State. He had seven double-doubles on the year including 17 points, 12 rebounds at Ohio State. He had one of his best league outings going toe-to-toe with Purdue’s Big Ten Player of the Year Zach Edey where Reese scored 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting while adding three rebounds and committing zero turnovers.

    FRESHMAN CLASS BEST SINCE 2018

    Maryland’s freshman class of DeShawn Harris-Smith, Jamie Kaiser, Jr., and Jahnathan Lamothe ranked as the No. 15 recruiting class in the country during the offseason. They were later joined in the spring by the addition of 7-foot center Braden Pierce who played at IMG Academy last year.

    Harris-Smith, widely regarded as one of the top-10 freshmen in the country this year, collected a number of individual honors after a standout year at Paul VI High School – Virginia Gatorade Player of the Year, Naismith High School All-American, WCAC Player of the Year, All-MET Player of the Year.

    Maryland’s KenPom notable numbers:

    (out of 362 teams)

    Tempo – No. 267 (Offense No. 187 / Defense No. 275)

    Offensive Efficiency – No. 119

    • Maryland is one of the least efficient teams from three so far this season, hitting just 23.8 percent of their shots from beyond the arc (No. 353 in the country). 40 percent of their field goal attempts are from three (No. 103) but only 23 percent of their points (No. 316).
    • The Terps do get to the line at a high rate, with a 46.6 percent rate of getting a free throw for every field goal attempt – No. 20.
    • Maryland is fairly consistent with twos, hitting 54.5 percent of their shots inside (No. 64 in the country). However, the glaring deficiency from beyond the arc lowers their total effective field goal percentage to 46.8 percent (No. 263 in the country).

    Defensive Efficiency – No. 22

    • Although Maryland may struggle scoring, they certainly make it up on the defensive side. They have held opponents to a 45 percent effective field goal percentage so far this season – No. 48 in the country.  They’ve been especially good at defending twos (44.6 percent, No. 46).
    • The Terps are great at forcing turnovers with a 22.8 percent rate on the season (No. 23). A 13 percent steal rate (No. 31) and an 11.6 percent block rate (No. 79) makes them one of the more dangerous teams on the defensive side.
    • Maryland does not let their opponents take many threes. Their 25.4 percent opponent three-point attempt rate (3FGA/FGA) ranks No. 6 in the country.

    For complete coverage of IU basketball, GO HERE.    

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