Smith Maryland

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — The Hoosiers start their first losing streak of the season by falling to the No. 15 Terrapins on the road to kick off the new year. Indiana moves to 11-3 on the season and 1-2 in conference play. Mark Turgeon’s ball club advances to 12-2 (2-1). Without a consistent offensive game plan, the Hoosiers got outscored in both halves by a margin of eight points.

Maryland used Indiana’s own medicine to defeat them, going 21 of 25 at the charity stripe. Indiana only got to the line 18 times and converted 11 of those attempts.

After the tough home loss for the Hoosiers against Arkansas almost a week prior, the Hoosiers started out by taking the ball down low, mostly to Joey Brunk. Joey started with a quick 5 points and the rest of the shots came down low. It was not until 10 minutes into the game where Damezi Anderson attempted the first shot from beyond the arc. The Hoosiers small lead started to get cut and turn into a Maryland lead as shots drifted to the outside, and Trayce Jackson-Davis did not have many touches in the opening half.

Fouls and turnovers were also the topic of conversation in the first half. Many of the fouls Indiana committed were turnover-like, as a few of them came on the offensive end. Towards the end of the 1st half, the Hoosiers had four quick fouls in a few minutes and turned the ball over on offense. They could not get the ball inside, either, and they had a 5-minute scoring drought.

This felt like the first time all season that foul trouble was going against Indiana. Trayce Jackson-Davis received two quick fouls and had to sit on the bench, Joey Brunk received two fouls as well, putting in Race Thompson and De’Ron Davis for longer periods of time than we have seen this season. Both Trayce and Joey did not see the court after picking up two fouls. The Hoosiers had to lean on two bigs that have not seen the court much this season, so play down low was rusty. With different lineup combinations then we normally see, scoring started to take its toll at the end of the first half.

The Hoosiers scored 4 points in the final 9 minutes and 32 seconds of the first half. It is no coincidence that the Hoosiers were 0-0 from beyond the arc in the first 10 minutes of the first half and they found themselves up five. In the final 10 minutes of the first half, they were 1-7 from beyond the arc and found themselves down eight. Joey Brunk led the team with 5 points in the first half with De’Ron Davis behind him with four.

The second half didn’t start out any better as the Hoosiers continued to commit turnovers and Maryland took advantage, scoring five quick points and Archie needing to call an early timeout. Indiana found some offense, but quickly gave the comeback up by giving the ball away and committing quick fouls.

As shot selection was arguable questionable in the first half, the Hoosiers were finding much better shots to open the second half. Problem was, they couldn’t go in. They started the half 0-5 from beyond the arc and at one point, was shooting 8.3%.

The Hoosiers found themselves in multiple scoring droughts this game, just like in recent games. Their confidence has seemed to take a few steps backwards, as players are not stepping into their shots, rolling it off their fingertip at the free throw line, or committing to the shot. There was not much clapping and cheering from Indiana as they made shots, and not much on-court support with spirits at a season-low.

Defensive rotations slowed even more, and the Hoosiers just threw their bodies at incoming Terrapins driving into the lane instead of going up to play defense. Reactions were slower as the game progressed, and they wouldn’t get back on defense.

Ultimately, the Hoosiers were unable to turn the situation around despite a first half where Indiana led for nearly eight minutes. Indiana clawed back off of Devonte Green at the end of the second half, but that should be discounted since Maryland did a full line change with second and third string players.

Box Scores

Source: Indiana University Athletics

Number of the Night: 9 minutes and 32 seconds

Offense was the major theme of the game this afternoon as the Hoosiers could not get anything going all game. The Hoosiers shot 36.1% from the field, and the lack of scoring turned into a lack of confidence all around. The Hoosiers will need to change something as the Big Ten schedule does not get any easier going forward.

Despite shooting making 16 points in the first 10 minutes, the Hoosiers closed out the first half with just four points in the last 9:32. During that period, Indiana made only a single field goal (Durham layup). De’Ron Davis added two free throws during that drought.

Specifically, a large area of concern was Indiana’s dismal three point shooting. Indiana was only able to hit 4 of 18 this afternoon, which is an already-inflated. The team had three makes from distance during the “garbage time” at the end of the game.

This team won’t eat their bread from the three-point arc, but they have to at least play at a respectable level, otherwise teams will continue to completely pack the paint.