I know that it’s too early in the season to say that a game is a must-win. In fact, it’s just silly to make proclamations like that prior to the second Big Ten game of the season. And yet…it truly did feel like Purdue needed this game in order to move forward toward the Three-Pete we are all hoping for. Maybe it was because Purdue already lost that first game against Penn State, and looked so bad doing it. Maybe it was the Marquette game hanging around in the back of our heads reminding us that there seems to be some sort of formula to beat the Boilermakers out there that Penn State used to perfection. Or maybe, and I include myself in this, we are all just paranoid and these losses have nothing to do with one another. Today, was a big test to see if Purdue could respond to a motivated, and much improved Maryland team who wanted to press Purdue and make them uncomfortable.

The first half saw Maryland play a very aggressive defense against the Boilermakers and go with the full court press. Purdue handled it much better than they did against Penn State with only two turnovers in the first half. That doesn’t mean that Purdue acquitted themselves well though. Purdue missed a number of bunnies, including a Caleb Furst dunk, and gave Maryland far too many opportunities on the glass. Purdue was just 13-35 in the first half including 2-10 from the floor. To top that off they were outrebounded 25-16. Gillespie, Rice, and Queen combined for 28 of Maryland’s 36 first half points and Queen seemed like he was able to do whatever he wanted. No one on Purdue seemed comfortable in that first half. It didn’t help that Trey Kaufman-Renn got into foul trouble early and then came back in with just over 10 minutes left and had to play a little more timid than he would like.

John Wooden Memorial Player of the Game (JWMPOTG) – Braden Smith is the only possible choice here. Braden played all 40 minutes in this one. That alone deserves some accolades. He finished the game with 24 points, 10 assists, and 4 rebounds. He truly took over in the second half. After having nine points in the first half he scored 15 in the second half to include going 4-5 from deep in the second half.

After going into halftime down by five points Purdue needed someone to step up and of course it was Braden Smith. As noted above, the JWMPOTG hit all the tough shots from deep while also placing his teammates in the best possible position to win this one. While Purdue committed just two turnovers in the first half they committed six in the second half. Eight turnovers is still low, but each one of them in the second half was costly as the teams traded runs, including a 10-0 Purdue run.

The bench for Purdue continues to struggle. In this one Burgess, Furst, Berg, Cox, and Harris combined for only seven points and three rebounds over a combined 40 minutes. Compare that to JWMPOTG Braden Smith who also played 40 minutes but had 24 points and 10 rebounds. I understand it’s not fair to compare someone to Braden Smith, but the minutes are the same so it was worth a comparison. Someone on that bench will need to step up. That said, I know that the Maryland bench only scored three points and had six rebounds. It’s a problem a lot of teams will face but it seems rather problematic for Purdue.

This is going to end up being a game that will age well as I think Maryland is going to surprise some people this season after a down year last year. Purdue now sits at 1-1 in Big Ten play after these December conference games. Now, it’s back to the non-conference season. With Finals just around the corner, Purdue will next be in action on Saturday against Texas A&M in Indianapolis.