Maryland men's basketball blown out again in 93-63 loss to No. 12 Purdue

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Maryland men’s basketball was just what the doctor ordered for ailing Purdue — and a couple other members of the Big Ten.

Eager to end a three-game losing skid, the No. 12 Boilermakers found a partner in the Terps, who could not match their opponent’s offense or size in a 93-63 loss Sunday afternoon before an announced 16,026 at Xfinity Center.

Purdue (18-4, 8-3 Big Ten) collected its first victory in more than two weeks — a stretch beset by setbacks to UCLA, No. 9 Illinois and Indiana — and avoided its second four-game losing streak in as many years. The team also revived its hope of chasing No. 3 Michigan (20-1, 10-1), No. 5 Nebraska (20-1, 9-1), No. 9 Illinois (18-3, 9-1) and No. 7 Michigan State (19-3, 9-2) and Wisconsin (16-6, 8-3) for the conference’s regular-season title.

Maryland (8-13, 1-9) suffered its most lopsided defeat in Xfinity Center and worst at home since a 104-72 shellacking by Duke inside Cole Field House on Jan. 3, 1998. The team absorbed its third loss in a row and seventh in the past eight games.

Coach Buzz Williams said he thought that the team’s effort against the Boilermakers was better than what he saw in the 91-48 stumble at the Spartans on Jan. 24 and coming off of a week-long bye.

“We’ve tried to revamp a lot of different things in our first bye,” he said. “I do think any team that plays three top-15 teams in the NET [rankings] with two of them being on the road, you’re probably up against it. That’s the good thing about this league.”

The Terps have become the antidote for league rivals seeking to cure even brief ills. Iowa rebounded from a 71-52 rout by the Spartans on Dec. 2 for an 83-64 clobbering on Dec. 6, and the Bruins snapped a two-game slide with a 67-55 win on Jan. 10.

Much like setbacks to Michigan, Illinois and Michigan State, Maryland simply could not keep pace with high-octane and larger Purdue. The Boilermakers raced to early leads of 10-2 and 25-7 en route to shooting 58.6% (17 of 29) overall and 52.9% (9 of 17) from 3-point range in the first half. They finished at 52.7% (29 of 55) and 50.0% (a season-best 15 of 30), respectively.

Senior shooting guard Fletcher Loyer scored 21 of his game-high 29 points in the opening stanza on 7-of-10 shooting (70.0%) from the floor and 5 of 7 (71.4%) from long distance. He finished at 9 of 14 (64.3%) and 7 of 10 (70.0%), respectively.

Senior point guard Braden Smith pumped in 14 of his 19 points in the first half and chipped in six assists as Purdue assisted on 11 of its 17 buckets. Senior power forward Trey Kaufman-Renn had seven points, 10 rebounds and four assists.

With the Boilermakers’ backcourt of Loyer and Smith causing most of the damage, Terps freshman shooting guard Darius Adams admitted that crafting a strategy to contain them was much different from actually employing that strategy on the court.

“We were preparing for them all week, trying to stop them and their ball screens,” he said. “It’s hard because they have good shooters as we’ve seen tonight. We had a plan, just going over the plan and sticking to the plan and getting reps at the plan. I think it showed a little bit tonight, but we obviously weren’t our best. But I think if we keep doing that and just keep locking into the plan that we have, then I think it would help us.”

The Terps did not fare terribly, converting 38.8% of their shots from the field (19 of 49) and 35.3% from the 3-point line (6 of 17). But they lack the firepower that the Boilermakers have in copious amounts.

Maryland’s 10th starting lineup of the season — which entailed inserting redshirt junior shooting guard Myles Rice and senior small forward Solomon Washington over redshirt freshman small forward George Turkson Jr. and junior shooting guard Isaiah Watts — produced few tangible results. The team continued to miss the presence of senior power forward Pharrel Payne, who sat out his 10th consecutive game because of the right knee injury he suffered in the first half of a 101-83 loss to then-No. 2 Michigan on Dec. 13.

The 6-foot-9, 250-pound Payne might have helped the Terps compete with Purdue’s height. The Boilermakers outrebounded Maryland, 37-26, and turned 11 offensive rebounds into 19 second-chance points. Meanwhile, the Terps corralled eight offensive boards for 12 second-chance points.

And for the eighth time in 10 league contests, Maryland committed more turnovers than its opponent did. The team gave the ball away 12 times to Purdue’s eight errors, and the Boilermakers capitalized by outscoring Maryland, 22-4, off of turnovers.

Redshirt freshman shooting guard Andre Mills paced the Terps with a career-best 18 points — including 10 in the first half — and he added six assists and three rebounds.

Washington collected 14 points and four rebounds, and freshman shooting guard Darius Adams finished with 17 points and six rebounds. Adams’ output was the most since he scored 18 points in a 73-58 win against Old Dominion on Dec. 28, and Mills credited his teammates with helping him and Adams find their shooting rhythm.

“I think our pace was a little better today,” he said. “The ball sticks sometimes, but for the most part, the ball was kind of moving, and we got a better flow of our offense. I think specific to me and DA, I think we’re better off the move and getting off curls and actions and just little things like that.”

But senior power forward Elijah Saunders’ day ended prematurely when he picked up his fifth foul with 14:40 left in the second half. He left the game with more turnovers (one) than points and rebounds combined (zero).

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