Purdue @ Maryland preview

Purdue at Maryland

Last Meeting ( Dec 25, 2020 ) Maryland 70, Purdue 73

Having moved into college basketball's Top 25 this week, the No. 24 Purdue Boilermakers look to stay there. They'll have to get by the Maryland Terrapins in College Park, Md., Tuesday night first.

Purdue (12-6, 7-4 Big Ten) is ranked for the first time this season. The Boilermakers have five wins over Top 25 teams, including two in the past three weeks against then-No. 15 Ohio State and then-No. 21 Minnesota on Saturday.

The 81-62 win over the Golden Gophers was Purdue's fifth in its last six games. Purdue outscored Minnesota 51-27 in the second half, shooting 60 percent and making 8 of 10 3-pointers in those 20 minutes. Purdue has won 20 straight games when scoring at least 80 points.

"The speech I give at halftime, I should probably give before the game," Purdue coach Matt Painter said. "What we have to do is be able to handle someone's defensive pressure. Just trying to find that smooth patch to be able to execute and get better shots for guys that can make them."

Brandon Newman scored a career high 29 points with six rebounds, and his 29 points are the fourth-most recorded by a freshman in school history. He said his teammates put him in a good position to score.

"I didn't think I felt any different," Newman said. "I was getting into the flow of things more, offensively and defensively."

Forward Trevion Williams leads Purdue in scoring at 15.4 points per game, and rebounding at 9.8. The Boilermakers are 3-4 on the road this season and have won each of their past two games at Maryland.

The Terps (9-8, 3-7) have lost two of their last three games. They lost to the Boilermakers, 73-70 at West Lafayette, Ind., on Christmas Day after rallying from a 13-point first half deficit.

Purdue will be Maryland's eighth ranked opponent in the past 10 games. But they are 0-4 at home in conference play, most recently a tough 61-55 loss to then-No. 14 Wisconsin on Wednesday.

"We held them to 61 in our building. That should be good enough to win and it wasn't enough," Terps coach Mark Turgeon said.

Maryland is led in scoring by Eric Ayala's 13.7 points per game. Donta Scott averages 13 points and leads the Terps in rebounding with 6.9 per game.

Scott's 15 points and eight boards led Maryland in the last meeting with Purdue. Newman led the Boilermakers with 17 points.

--Field Level Media