Maryland and No. 12 Purdue are struggling entering their Big Ten matchup Sunday afternoon in College Park, Md., but their difficulties are on a significantly different level.
The Terrapins (8-12, 1-8) have lost nine of their last 11 games, compiling their worst record through 20 games since the 1988-89 season.
Meanwhile, the Boilermakers (17-4, 7-3) have lost their last three games, tumbling from a tie for first place in the conference to a tie for fifth.
It’s a slide for a Purdue team that opened the season ranked No. 1 and held the position until falling to Iowa State on Dec. 6.
None of the losses in the Boilermakers’ current skid has come by more than six points. The most recent defeat was Tuesday at Indiana, 72-67.
“If we just come in here and they play lights out and they just knock our socks off, and that’s that, (but) that wasn’t the case,” Boilermakers coach Matt Painter said. “We gotta find some guys who’ll do it for 40 minutes.”
The final seven minutes of the first half was the problem for Purdue as Indiana turned a four-point deficit into an 11-point lead.
The Boilermakers’ top two scorers have been productive during the losing streak. Braden Smith has delivered an average of 17.3 points and 7.0 assists per game, and Trey Kaufman-Renn has averaged 15 points per game, making 19 of 28 shots from the field.
Two other Boilermakers who score at a double-digit clip have struggled, however. Fletcher Loyer has averaged 6.3 points on 6-of-25 shooting during the skid, while Oscar Cluff has averaged 5.7 points.
Painter also said he wants to see more intensity on the glass, as the 6-foot-11 Cluff and 6-9 Kaufman-Renn have averaged 4.7 and 4 rebounds per game, respectively, in the three defeats.
“We outrebounded them by five,” Painter said after the Indiana game. “We should have outrebounded them by 15. It’s frustrating.”
Maryland, meanwhile, is in the throes of a brutal schedule stretch, falling last week at then-No. 11 Illinois, 89-70, and at then-No. 10 Michigan State, 91-48.
The loss Saturday to the Spartans was the Terrapins’ most decisive defeat since 1944.
“We have a long, long, millions of miles to go in every possible way — on the floor, off the floor,” Maryland coach Buzz Williams said.
The Terrapins can be dangerous when long-range threat David Coit is in a groove. After scoring 73 points in two games the previous week, Coit totaled 26 last week on 2-of-15 shooting from 3-point range.
Darius Adams (11.9 ppg) and Solomon Washington (9.7 ppg, 9.2 rpg) are the other weapons for Maryland, as top scorer Pharrel Payne (17.5 ppg) remains sidelined with a knee injury.
On the subject of Purdue, Williams expressed admiration for Painter’s ability to retain players from year-to-year in the new era of college basketball. Five of the Boilermakers’ top six scorers returned from last season’s team.
“How coach Painter has gone about it has proved to be very successful,” Williams said. “He’s doing it completely different than how Illinois has done it, completely different than even how Michigan State has done it.”
