No. 1 Purdue handles Maryland, snaps Terrapins’ 19-game home winning streak
COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — Zach Edey and No. 1 Purdue dominated from the start at Maryland.
That might say a lot about the directions both teams have gone since last season.
Edey had 23 points and 12 rebounds, and the Boilermakers cruised past the Terrapins 67-53 on Tuesday night to snap their 19-game home winning streak. For a Purdue team that’s trying to improve upon last season — when it was a No. 1 seed but lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to Fairleigh Dickinson — this was another encouraging sign.
Maryland coach Kevin Willard can only hope a matchup like this will give his own team a sense of how much it still needs to improve.
“By far the best team in the country. It’s not even close,” Willard said. “You look at their schedule, who they’ve played, where they’ve played, it’s the best team in the country. But for them to come in here and do this to us on our home court, that should be a little bit of an eye-opener for everybody.”
The Boilermakers (13-1, 2-1 Big Ten) won their sixth straight, having little difficulty with this offensively challenged Maryland team. Purdue hadn’t won at Maryland since 2017. Although the Terps (9-5, 1-2) hung tough defensively for a while, they couldn’t overcome the shooting woes that have made this season a disappointment so far.
The Boilermakers took an 8-0 lead and forced Maryland to take an early timeout. The Terps managed only 19 points in the first half and trailed by 13 at the break. Then Purdue quickly pushed the lead to 22 in the second.
“We really weren’t that good, especially in the first half offensively,” Boilermakers coach Matt Painter said. “We simplified what we did. The way they change defense and the way they do things, we didn’t run as much stuff tonight.”
Only Oral Roberts and Boise State (21 each) had longer home winning streaks than Maryland entering this game, but the Terps went down at Xfinity Center for the first time since December 2022 against UCLA. Maryland also had an overall five-game winning streak snapped.
Jahmir Young scored 26 points for the Terps, the only Maryland player with more than nine. The poor shooting by Maryland was across the board — 33% from the field, 5 of 22 from 3-point range and 6 of 11 on free throws.
“We missed seven wide-open 3s in the first half. I don’t know how much more we can do when you get a wide-open shot,” said Willard, whose team reached the NCAA Tournament last season and won a game there but is having a hard time building on that. “I’ll try to put a new play in to get a wide, wide, wide open shot. Maybe that will help.”
Braden Smith scored 14 points for Purdue and Lance Jones added 11.
LOOKING BACK
Although the Boilermakers became the second No. 1 seed ever to lose to a No. 16 in the NCAA Tournament, Edey does not sound surprised by their success so far this season.
“The way the season ended, I think a lot of people kind of counted us out,” he said. “We were a No. 1 seed. We were one of the best teams in the country for a bunch of weeks and returned everybody.”
BIG PICTURE
Purdue: The Boilermakers’ defense vs. Maryland’s offense always seemed like a possible mismatch, and Purdue’s quick start took the crowd out of the game, pretty much for good.
Maryland: The Terps had some success on the offensive boards but were badly outplayed otherwise. Their offense simply isn’t good enough to make them much of a threat to the top Big Ten teams at the moment.
UP NEXT
Purdue: Hosts No. 9 Illinois on Friday night.
Maryland: At Minnesota on Sunday.