Maryland Basketball: What Terrapins must do to beat Purdue on Christmas

By Sean Cole | Dec 24, 2020

Dec 14, 2020; College Park, Maryland, USA; Maryland Terrapins forward Donta Scott (24) looks to move the ball as center Myles Johnson (15) and Rutgers Scarlet Knights guard Ron Harper Jr. (24) defend during the second half at Xfinity Center. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports /

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Maryland Basketball (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /

Maryland Basketball looks to give its fans a nice Christmas gift with a big win over Purdue.

Maryland Basketball is off to a rocky start in Big10 conference play, as they take the court in a Christmas Day matchup on the road against a hot Purdue Boilermaker team. The Terp’s (5-2 overall, 0-1 in conference play) are looking to turn things around in the un-friendly confines of Mackey Area. The Boilermakers (6-3 overall, 1-1 conference) are 1-1 the last two games which includes defeating then #20 Ohio State 67-60 in West Lafayette and a loss to #4 Iowa 70-55 in Iowa.

Purdue Coach Matt Painter has the Boilermakers playing really well right now, as Purdue is entering one the toughest stretches in all of college basketball, with the next five out of seven games being played on the road against four top 25 teams including Iowa.

The Boilermakers have a solid core of 6-10 Junior Forward Trevion Williams (13.8 ppg and 9.8 rpg), 6-4 Junior Guard Eric Hunter Jr. (14.3 ppg and .350 3 Point Shooting Percentage), 6-5 Junior Guard Sasha Stefanovic (12.5 ppg and .520 3 Point Shooting Percentage) and 7-4 Freshman Center Zach Edey (11.3 ppg and 4.3 rpg).

The Terps started off conference play with a 74-60 home loss to #19 Rutgers (6-0 overall, 2-0 conference). Maryland played to 28-27 halftime lead, but at the 11:45 mark of the second half the Scarlet Knights went on a 10-0 run and never looked back, as the Terp’s had no answer for Ron Harper Jr as Harper scored a game-high 27 points (19 in the second half).

The Terp’s are led by 6-5 Junior Guard Eric Ayala (13.2 ppg and .944 free throw percentage) and 6-7 Sophomore Forward Donta Scott (13.0 ppg and 7.2 rpg).

Here are the three key things that the Terp’s must do in order to get a tough road victory against a hot Purdue Boilermaker team. With the Big 10 being one of the best conferences, if not the best conference in the country, a road win would certainly greatly improve Maryland’s NCAA tournament resume.

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