Maryland men’s basketball’s tumultuous campaign reached a frustrating low against Oregon, when the Terps scored a season-low 54 points. Their offense looked anemic in, on paper, one of the easiest games on their schedule to pick up a first conference win.
Doing this becomes more difficult now. Maryland is set to embark on a West Coast excursion next week, but before that, it will face another newly assembled team — albeit one that has had more success so far — in Indiana.
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The Terps and Hoosiers are scheduled to tip off Wednesday at the Xfinity Center at 6:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.
Indiana Hoosiers (11-3, 2-1 Big Ten)
Results 2024-25: 19-13, 10-10 Big Ten
Indiana cruised through the start of its schedule last year, getting off to a 13-3 start. But losses in seven of the next eight games derailed the playoffs and prompted then-head coach Mike Woodson to announce he would resign at the end of the season.
Between head coach Darian DeVries to stabilize the ship. DeVries was a known figure in the middle bracket, having commandeered Drake for three tournament appearances between 2020 and 2024. He made the move to West Virginia last year and quickly transformed a nine-win team into a 19-win team just outside the bubble. DeVries’ respect and appreciation for Indiana’s basketball culture led him to move once again – to a likely more permanent home.
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Indiana went on a seven-game winning streak to start the year. While the Hoosiers slipped in early December — losing three of four games, to Minnesota, No. 6 Louisville and Kentucky — they got back on track with the resumption of Big Ten play.
Players to watch
Lamar Wilkerson, redshirt senior guard, 6-foot-6, No. 3 — After a great first year in college, Sam Houston State took a chance on Wilkerson. The big guard continued to improve year after year, allowing him to average 20.5 points per game in his senior season and move up to the Big Ten for his senior year.
Wilkerson has been the leader for the Hoosiers this season, shooting 41.7 percent from deep and 45.6 percent from the field for an average of 19.2 points per game. And even with those stats, he’s improving — that average is up to 25 points per game over the last five games.
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Tucker DeVries, redshirt senior forward, 6-foot-7, No. 12 — DeVries was an honorable mention AP All-American in 2023-24 as a player at Drake, where he averaged 22 points, seven rebounds and four assists per game. He followed his father first to West Virginia, where an injury ended his season prematurely, and now to Indiana.
DeVries found an offensive role on the perimeter, doing less with the ball and crashing the boards defensively. Even though his shooting numbers are down, he still averages 15.5 points and five rebounds per game, an undeniable impact.
Conor Enright, redshirt senior guard, 6-foot-1, No. 5 — Enright is the creative presence holding together an offense led by three guards – plus DeVries, who plays like a guar). The fifth-year player began his college career at Drake in 2021, becoming a solid point guard and eventually joining DePaul after DeVries left.
Enright averaged 6.2 assists per game for the Blue Demons in the Big East and had the opportunity to reunite with his head coach. He only attempts about three shots per game, but his ball handling is key – Enright has 69 assists to just 14 turnovers this year.
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Strength
Free throw shooting. With the small-ball roster, it’s no surprise that Indiana does well in the charitable sector. His free throw percentage (77.4%) ranks in the top 25 in Division I, and DeVries, Wilkerson and rotation player Nick Dorn each make over 84% of their attempts.
Weakness
Offensive rebound. When Indiana’s shots aren’t falling, Indiana struggles to create a second chance to right the ship. The Hoosiers’ 9.4 offensive boards per game are second in the Big Ten. In their losses, they averaged just seven per game.
Three things to watch out for
1. Which offense remains consistent? While Maryland fans are more than accustomed to seeing their offense swing wildly between feast and famine, their opponents in Indiana have experienced wider swings. They have almost as many games with fewer than 70 points (three) as with triple-digit scores (four).
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If the Terps find the level they have the potential to reach, they could catch Indiana — after Maryland, its next four games are against No. 10 Nebraska, No. 12 Michigan State, No. 19 Iowa and No. 2 Michigan.
2. Myles Rice’s Revenge Game? Like Maryland, Indiana’s entire roster left following the head coaching change, and the team had to rebuild from scratch. That won’t stop Myles Rice — one of the Hoosiers’ most important players from last season — from wanting to strut his stuff in front of Indiana fans again.
Rice had an up and down year for Maryland, recording four games with double-digit points and four games with two points or less. This play could be the spark that ignites a player the Terps would have expected more production from.
3. Can Solomon Washington continue to eat against an undersized front? Washington’s 17-point game against Oregon seemed like an outlier for a player who averaged 4.7 points per game in 2024-25, but that may just indicate an increased role — he scored nine against Virginia and 13 against Old Dominion.
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And while Washington’s breakthrough against Oregon came against two monstrous giants, Indiana doesn’t have as dominant a presence as Kwame Evans Jr. or Nate Bittle. He relies on several tall but not massive forwards, mainly DeVries and Sam Alexis, 6-foot-9, 240 pounds, the biggest player in their rotation.
