Indiana aims to tighten up defensively in meeting vs. Maryland

Indiana coach Mike Woodson has not seen the scenario play out too often this season when the Hoosiers lose their focus defensively, give up a spate of 3-point shots and ultimately lose a game they could have won.

That was the case Wednesday night at Northwestern, where Indiana gave up nine 3-pointers in the second half that led to a 79-70 loss.

Now the Hoosiers face a must-win game of sorts on Sunday afternoon in their return home to Bloomington, where they will face a Maryland team that finally broke through away from home in its last game.

Indiana (14-6, 5-4 Big Ten) allowed a whopping 54 second-half points at Northwestern, an outcome that had Woodson scratching his head.

"We played beautiful in the first half," he said. "Our communication from a defensive standpoint was lost in the second half. They made us pay."

Oumar Ballo leads the Hoosiers in average points per game (14.5) and rebounds (10.2).

Ballo will be challenged by a Terrapins' inside attack that dominated Thursday night in a 91-70 win at No. 17 Illinois, their first road victory of the season. Julian Reese scored a career-high 27 points and grabbed 17 rebounds as Maryland (15-5, 5-4) earned a 62-34 advantage in points in the paint.

Derik Queen added 25 points in a performance that for the moment quieted skeptics who felt he was hitting the freshman wall after scoring fewer than 10 points in four of his previous six games.

"He's going to be in that three-letter league pretty soon," Terps coach Kevin Willard said of Queen, "but we're asking a freshman to do a whole lot in a league that's full of fifth-year, COVID guys, physical guys. He's fine. He's going to figure it out."

Queen leads the team with 15.6 points per game, while Belmont transfer Ja'Kobi Gillespie adds 14.4 points and 4.4 assists per game.

Indiana owns a 14-9 lead in the all-time series, winning both meetings last season.

--Field Level Media