Maryland Basketball: Terps outclassed on boards against Purdue

The Maryland basketball team suffered another setback on Saturday.

This time, the Terrapins were outclassed on the boards against Purdue.

When you have a formidable frontcourt like Maryland, getting outrebounded 41-22 isn’t something that should ever happen. However, that is exactly what occurred on Saturday evening in West Lafayette, Ind.

The No. 20 Boilermakers had all but two of their nine rotational players grab multiple rebounds against the Terps. The combination of A.J. Hammons and Caleb Swanigan combined for 13 boards, including five on the offensive glass.

On the other hand, Maryland didn’t have any player grab more than five rebounds. Forward Robert Carter and center Diamond Stone had five boards apiece, but looked completely outworked at times by the Purdue bigs.

On Purdue’s first offensive possession, it seemed to start to unravel for Maryland. Swanigan put up a jumper that clanged off the rim and multiple Terps had a chance to pull it in. However, it ended up going off of guard Rasheed Sulaimon’s hands and Vince Edwards ended up connecting on a jump shot from the free throw line.

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Over the course of the game, Purdue had 24 second chance points compared to just 10 for Maryland.

That really was one of the biggest storylines to the game, especially in the first half. Maryland trailed by as many as 16 points in the opening stanza due to the fact that Purdue hit 10 of their 16 shots from the field.

During that stretch in which the Boilermakers jumped out to a 24-8 lead, the team hauled in five offensive rebounds. Purdue’s frontcourt players just always seemed to be in the right positions and were able to outmuscle the Terps when a shot didn’t go down for either team.

With 13:45 left in the opening half, Isaac Haas took the basketball right to the rim against Diamond Stone. The shot wouldn’t go down for Haas, but he was able to secure the offensive rebound amongst three Terps and put it back for the layup.

Haas didn’t really a ton of help from his teammates, so Maryland certainly should’ve been more aggressive on the defensive glass and fought harder for that rebound.

The offensive glass was one of the key areas that burned the Terps.

The Boilermakers held a 19-9 advantage in that department. In the first half when Purdue had quite a bit of success scoring the ball, they scored 18 of their 24 second chance points, which ultimately was one of the deciding factors in the game’s outcome.

Maryland really is going to have to learn from this game and regroup with a great concentration in the rebounding department. The Terps are too big in the post with guys like Carter, Damonte Dodd, and Stone to be outrebounded by such a wide margin.

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With the NCAA Tournament just around the corner, this is something that needs to be fixed in a quick manner.