Big Ten Tournament: Maryland Terrapins and Indiana Hoosiers Meet Again

The Maryland Terrapins now know who they will play in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal round. The Terps and the Indiana Hoosiers split their season series and both teams won each game played on their home floor. In their last meeting, the Terps came out with the win in a close matchup at the Xfinity Center, 68-66. It is clear that home court advantage was a big key for both teams when they met in the regular season. But in a neutral setting at the United Center, home to the Chicago Bulls, who knows what will happen?

The Terps won their season finale against Nebraska, 64-61, led by Melo Trimble, who had 21 points, seven rebounds and four assists. In addition, Dezmine Wells did his thing and put up a double-double (18 points and 12 rebounds). Despite having 17 turnovers in the game, the Terps had more total rebounds and assists: 41-38 and 10-5, respectively. Maryland capped off a seven-game winning streak with the Nebraska win and are a team on a mission right now.

Looking at the matchup against the Hoosiers, these players need to be the focus of the Terps defensively:

1. Kevin Ferrell: The always dangerous “Yogi” Ferrell gave the Terps fits defensively each time he played them and I’m sure he will want to avenge his near game-winning play with a solid performance Friday night. The junior guard averages 16 points, 3.5 rebounds, and five assists. Against Northwestern Thursday, in the 71-56 win to advance to the quarterfinals, Ferrell was all over the court. He had 17 points, five assists, three rebounds, two steals and a block. He’s a threat because he has the ability to drive the lane and score while also scorching teams from deep.

2. James Blackmon: Blackmon is another threat in addition to Ferrell because he shoots the three ball at 38 percent on the season and averaged 15.8 points per game, 5.3 rebounds per game and 1.4 assists per game. He’s in his Freshman season and producing at a high level. In the game against Northwestern, he also had quite the stat line: 25 points, seven assists and six rebounds and shot the ball well at 53 percent.

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The Achilles heel for the Terps against Indiana in the past was perimeter defense. They got exposed for 15 three-pointers in Bloomington the first time the two teams played. Since then, the Terps have improved in that area and been better defensively overall with each passing game. Good news for them as Michal Cekovsky is back and healthy after suffering a right knee injury during warm ups in the game against the Michigan Wolverines. He has really stepped up to the plate and shown what he was made of. Most notably against Wisconsin’s big man Frank Kaminsky. The Terps played the best team in the Big Ten and beat them playing their style of basketball.

Something to watch out for though is how Indiana fares without Hanner Mosquera-Perea. He re injured his right knee against Northwestern it is unknown whether he will play in tomorrow’s game. If he doesn’t play, his absence could prove to be a good thing for the Maryland Terrapins.

Score Prediction:

I think this will be a high-scoring game and Maryland will win their second nail-biter in a row. It won’t be easy, they’ll have to play a sound game across the board but they win down the stretch through defensive efficiency.

Next: TBW breaks down the Big Ten Tournament

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