Indiana surged in the second half despite trailing for the entirety of the first half against Maryland. Both teams were efficient from the floor, but a late 7-0 run propelled the Terrapins to a 77-76 win over the Hoosiers in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
After trailing by as many as 14 points in the first half, Indiana scratched and clawed its way back against Maryland in the second.
The team never made the play to put its opponent away, and in the end, the Terrapins capitalized on the Hoosiers’ mistakes to steal the game at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. A 7-0 run in the final minutes let Maryland escape with a 77-76 victory.
“I think the last 3:32 of the game, the last media segment as we came out, that’s when you really gotta be tough-minded,” Indiana head coach Archie Miller said after the game. “That’s when you gotta really execute. It’s when you gotta know time and score. It’s when your communication has to be at its finest.”
Both teams exchanged blows throughout the opening period, combining for 15 total 3-pointers. Sophomore forward Jalen Smith and senior guard Anthony Cowan were Maryland’s leading scorers after the first 20 minutes.
Together, they totaled 23 of the Terrapins’ first-half points. Smith found himself open from the 3-point line on three different occasions and connected on every one of them. The Hoosiers were playing too aggressively on ball screens, which left redshirt junior Joey Brunk out of position to defend deep shots.
Miller decided to have either freshman forward Trayce Jackson-Davis or junior forward Justin Smith defending. While that eliminated Jalen Smith’s shot opportunities, he found success in the paint and shot seven free throws in the second half as opposed to none in the first.
“I know there were a couple of mishaps that happened with ball screen coverage where they got a couple of open rolls,” sophomore point guard Rob Phinisee said. “Then obviously, we turned the ball over last minute, and then they got that easy bucket.”
As the game came down to its final minutes, Miller said there were several plays that the team wishes they could have back. The easy bucket Phinisee referred to comes with 1:02 left in the game.
The Hoosiers mounted a second-half comeback after coming out of the locker room trailing 45-36.
Indiana only allowed Maryland to hit on 40% of its shots in the second half, resulting in a lead of its own. While trailing by a single-digit margin, the Terrapins executed a full-court press. Miller said his team had no issue inbounding the ball and breaking through the defense.
However, redshirt freshman Jerome Hunter launched a bad pass up the floor that resulted in a fastbreak 3-pointer from Maryland sophomore guard Aaron Wiggins.
The lead was cut to one point with under a minute to play. Indiana senior guard Devonte Green missed the ensuing jumper, and Jalen Smith responded with a basket on the other end of the court. He would finish the game with 29 points and 11 rebounds.
“We did enough to win the game,” Miller said. “We also did enough to lose it at the end.”
Indiana called a final play that was designed to get the basketball in the hands of either Phinisee or Jackson-Davis. Maryland denied the Hoosiers’ point guard the ball, so Jackson-Davis backed down his defender and put up a shot in the final seconds.
If it fell and Indiana won the game, the narrative would have centered around a surge of efficient offense while fending off another ranked opponent this week. Instead, Miller said it was the little things that went right against Michigan State on Thursday that went wrong this afternoon.
He said there were two or three defensive breakdowns during the game that prevented the team from truly putting Maryland away for good.
“If you ever want to know as a player why the coach is always screaming about talking and communicating, it's because it really matters when it means the most," Miller said. "This one stings.”
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