As 2018 comes to an end, Big Ten play will soon begin. Maryland basketball needs to exceed expectations in Big Ten Play if they want to an NCAA Tournament team.
Maryland Basketball is coming off of a 78-74 loss against the Seton Hall Pirates, a game that they should have won but struggled to come up with the points to get the job done. This was a game that could have been a notable non-conference win for the Terps and a resume-building win moving forward.
After their last non-conference game against the Radford Highlanders (7-5) on Saturday, Dec. 29, they start exclusively playing Big Ten opponents Jan. 2 at home against Nebraska. Here I will break down four key victories the Terps must have to keep their playoffs hopes alive not having made the NCAA or NIT Tournaments a year ago.
Maryland basketball will see Indiana and Wisconsin at home in their first meetings and Ohio State and Michigan on the road in those initial meetings.
1. No. 23 Indiana Hoosiers (11-2, 2-0 Big Ten)
Game Date/Time: Friday, Jan.11/7 p.m. ET (FS1)
What the Indiana Hoosiers do really well, in the half court is move the ball well and look for opportunities to get open shots. They have the shooters to hurt a team from the three-point line and the length and size to hurt them inside the paint. That was clear in their 73-72 loss to the Arkansas Razorbacks. The Razorbacks were too big for Indiana defensively at times. Even though the Razorbacks loss the rebounding battle 40-32 to the Hoosiers, the Razorbacks had a +7 assist margin.
Indiana has a three-headed monster in Romeo Langford (17.5 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 50 percent from the field), Juwan Morgan (16.2 PPG 7.6 RPG, 69 percent from the field) and Justin Smith (8.8 PPG, 3.6 RPG, 55 percent from the field) that will give Maryland basketball problems if their not careful.
Whether the Terps decide to play man or zone against Indiana, they have to make at least one of the three invisible in that game. All three of them can’t have explosive games if Maryland expects to win.
The Terps will have to beat them at their own game. Get the ball inside early and often to Jalen Smith and Bruno Fernando, keep the ball moving in the half court for the right shots and avoid costly turnovers.