The Maryland Terrapins find themselves in a Sunday faceoff against 3 ranked Purdue inside of Mackey Arena. The Terps are coming off of a really big conference win against Michigan last Thursday. After getting destroyed by Michigan on the road just a couple weeks ago, Kevin Willard was able to turn the table and find a way for the Terps to get a much needed conference victory.
The 64-58 win over Michigan was something a lot of Terps fans should be really excited about. Willard got our guys a much different game plan than game 1, was able to make the needed adjustments and help us bring home the win. The Terps played really fast which led to Center Hunter Dickinson being more isolated and most of the time playing catch up when it came to the game on Thursday. This afternoon, they will need some sort of similar plan as Purdue’s Zach Edey is something special.
Zach Edey stands at 7 foot, 4 inches and could be a problem for Maryland as he is for many other teams. The Terps will have to do their best to find a way to make his impact as little as possible. In order to do something like that, running a fast pace offense, similar to last Thursday will probably be in the cards. Although he is a giant, his conditioning is not that great and if the Terps can tire Edey out and do their best to limit his presence, I think this team may be able to shock some people today.
Along with Edey, Purdue is led by guard Fletcher Loyer. Loyer is known to shoot the 3 ball pretty well and can establish a problem on the perimeter if he gets going. Edey sits at an average of 21.3 points per game, and an even 13 rebounds per game. There is no doubt he will have his way in certain situations today, but if the Terps can limit him as much as possible and try to tire him out on the offensive side of the ball, they may be able to limit his minutes as much as possible and try to have their way.
For the Terps, traveling in the Big Ten is never easy as we have learned much this year. That being said, this team was a real joy to watch on Thursday. Jahmir Young once again led the way with 26 points. Hakim Hart came up big for the Terps a couple of times as well, with a nice flashy dunk at one point early in the game also. Dontae Scott totaled 8 rebounds and had a nice day on the glass. This afternoon, the Terps will need to do whatever it takes to establish a presence in the paint and find a way to get the offense going again. The Terps come in as big underdogs to no one surprise, but I think the Terps really can pull something off today and keep this momentum going. Tip off at 1 pm, Go Terps!
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