Indiana picked up another Big Ten win on Monday, improving to 7-4 (2-2) on the season and will now turn its attention to two more games this week, including a ranked Wisconsin team on Thursday.
The Big Ten remains a power, so any win no matter how it comes, is a good win.
After another slow start, IU ramped up the intensity in the second half to come away with a 63-55 win.
Here are the main takeaways from IU's victory over Maryland.
Armaan Franklin injury something to watch: It was great to see IU respond after losing one of its most important players so early on Monday. But, there is no telling how quickly an ankle injury will heal and with the brunt of the Big Ten about to take place, this was the worst time to potentially lose Franklin for an extended period of time. He was averaging 18.8 ppg in his last five outings. Archie Miller said Franklin will most likely be 'doubtful' for the rest of the week, resulting in potentially two missed games.
Race Thompson steps up: When IU failed to have any sort of offensive rhythm in the first half, it was Race Thompson who stepped up and provided Indiana with a much needed boost to remain in the game. He had nine points and seven rebounds in the first half, going 4-of-5 from the field. The rest of the team went a combined 5-of-25. Thompson ended with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
Trayce Jackson-Davis responds: Jackson-Davis was not good in the first half, no question about it. He rushed shots, forced shots and looked a bit lost offensively. He came out on fire in the second half, however. He had 17 of his 22 points and nine of his 15 rebounds in the final 20 minutes, including 7-of-9 from the field. He even went on his own personal 10-0 run that took IU over the top. That's what you need out of your preseason All-American.
Defense clamps down: After a few performances where the defense was shaky at times, IU's defensive unit performed back at the level that it is used to. It held Maryland to just 55 points on 38.5 percent from the field and 28 percent from three. IU was able to limit the dribble-drive and forced the Terrapins into multiple poor possessions with forced shots at the end of the shot clock.
Rob Phinisee has another solid performance: It was another productive game off of the bench for Phinisee, albeit not the scoring output he had on Wednesday. He had just five points, but his points came at key times in the second half - including knocking down IU's first three of the game. He also had three assists to just one turnover and was a major factor in dissecting the Maryland zone in the second half. His ability to get into the lane started to open things up offensively for IU. Defensively, he also set the tone and spent a lot of his minutes defending Eric Ayala. He held Ayala (14.8 ppg) to just nine points on 4-of-12 from the field.
Free throw shooting trending up: IU was 15-of-18 from the line on Monday and it was the third straight game with a percentage of at least 77 percent. In the prior eight games, IU had just one game with that percentage. With Big Ten games always coming down to the wire game-in and game-out, it is critical that IU have the ability to connect from the line at a higher percentage, like it has recently. On the season, however, the Hoosiers are still just 68.7 percent from the line - 10th in the conference.
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