After bullying Illinois inside, Maryland flipped the script to hold off the Hoosiers
The Terps switched up their strengths and earned another big road win.
Ja'Kobi Gillespie had lost his balance and Maryland's possession, and possibly its chances at a critical road win. But Julian Reese recovered the ball and found Rodney Rice on the left wing, who had made four three-pointers already. Rice hoisted his line drive shot, and the ball touched only the net.
The game-winner gave Maryland a 79-78 road win over a desperate Indiana team. The Terps went 2-0 on their road trip - a potential season altering stretch that partially dispelled the narratives that had previously plagued them.
"I decided to go for the win, and we were going to run hammer for Rodney and a re-screen for Selton coming off," coach Kevin Willard said.
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There was a noticeable restlessness amongst Assembly Hall attendees at Sunday's matinee game between the Terps and Hoosiers. The Hoosiers had lost three of their past four games and were at risk of dropping to .500 in conference.
On Thursday, coach Kevin Willard said he knew that Illinois was undersized and couldn't defend Derik Queen and Julian Reese. He was right; Maryland bullied the Fighting Illini's young forwards.
The opposite was true against Indiana. The Hoosiers start one of the most experienced frontcourts in the country. Oumar Ballo and Malik Reneau have played in 234 games. Even wing Mackenzie Mgbako is 6' 9 and 222 pounds. They limited Derik Queen and Julian Reese on Sunday. After those two combined for 52 points and 23 rebounds against Illinois, they scored just 21 points against Indiana. The Hoosiers won the points in the paint battle that Maryland has routinely dominated, 40 points to 30.
But Indiana's guards have struggled all season. In its recent stretch of games, Iowa's Payton Sandfort scored 23 points, Illinois's Kasparas Jakucionis and Kylan Boswell both scored more than 20 and prized freshman Ace Bailey dropped 39 points. The Hoosiers entered Sunday allowing 77.8 points per game in Big Ten play.
Rice and Gillespie continued the trend. The two guards scored 23 and 18 points, respectively, leading the team. Rice made five threes and played a team-high 38 minutes. Gillespie continued his strong play, dishing out nine assists.
"Rodney and Selton in the second half, Selton hit those two threes in a row and Rodney hit a big three against their zone," Willard said.
Those two, alongside Selton Miguel, shredded Indiana's backcourt. The combination of Trey Galloway, Anthony Leal, Myles Rice and Luke Goode combined to shoot just 24 field goal attempts.
A puzzling lineup decision let Indiana back in the game in the first half. Willard substituted Jay Young, Jordan Geronimo and DeShawn Harris-Smith into the game and Maryland promptly gave up a 6-0 run.
But when Willard inserted the starters back in, they regained control and took a 38-37 lead into the halftime break. Maryland's bench was thoroughly outplayed again - Indiana's reserves outscored the Terps backups 16-2.
"This is our fifth nationally broadcast game, and the timeouts are so long. Second half substitutions, I've said this forever, if you sub one of your starters out and it goes, if you sit them for three minutes, with the timeouts you end up sitting them for a long time," Willard said. "And the way the game was going, the flow was, it's like alright am I going to put someone in at the nine-minute mark? I asked all the guys; do you want a [sub]? And they said 'no, we want to roll this to the end.'
Indiana's lead even swelled to a four-point lead with just 38 seconds remaining. But Gillespie and Rice, the two stars of the day, scored consecutive baskets to grant Maryland an impressive win.
