Maryland basketball vs. Indiana preview: Terps host Hoosiers in late-night battle

A few weeks ago, Maryland basketball’s game against Indiana this Tuesday looked like it would be the Terps’ most-anticipated home game of the season.

Indiana was No. 11 in the preseason AP Poll, and catapulted into the top five after a hot start. Everything looked great for the Hoosiers, but then they lost three games in a row to Nebraska, Louisville and Wisconsin. That made this game a little harder to predict. The Terps come in on the heels of a win at Michigan, while Indiana righted the ship with a 16-point win over Illinois on Saturday.

The teams tip off at 9 p.m. Tuesday on ESPN.

Indiana Hoosiers (11-5, 1-2 Big Ten)

2015-16 record: 27-8

Head coach: Tom Crean. He’s 159-124 as Indiana’s head coach, and makes weird faces.

KenPom ranking: 27 (Maryland is 55)

Players to watch

Yogi Ferrell, senior, guard, wait he graduated? Are you sure? Positive? OK. Never mind then.

James Blackmon, guard, junior, 6’4/190, No. 1. Blackmon is IU’s leading scorer (17 points per game on 49 percent shooting), and his offensive rating of 126.5 is the team’s highest of any significant contributor.

Thomas Bryant, center, sophomore, 6’10/245, No. 31. Bryant’s usage is down slightly in his second season, but his points per game is up ever so slightly to 12.2. His rebounds per game is also slightly up to 7.2 and his defensive rating (according to Sports Reference) is up from 99 to 115.

OG Anunoby, forward, sophomore, 6’8/215, No. 3. Anunoby came out of nowhere to capture a lot of attention during Big Ten play as a freshman last year. This season, his numbers are getting closer to approximating the talent that has scouts projecting him as a top-10 talent in this year’s draft. He’s averaging 12 points and six rebounds on 60 percent shooting.

Strengths

Shooting. The Hoosiers have the country’s fifth-best effective field goal percentage (59 percent), eighth-best two-point percentage (58 percent) and 23rd-best three-point percentage (40 percent). They should give Maryland’s defense all it can handle.

Rebounding. Indiana’s fourth in the country in offensive rebound percentage and 71st in defensive rebounding percentage. Pretty good.

Weaknesses

Turnovers. This is the Hoosiers’ only visible downside. They turn the ball over on 22 percent of their possessions, which ranks 306rd in the country. Not very good.

Predictions

KenPom’s prediction: Indiana 76, Maryland 75. Terps have a 48 percent chance of winning.

Ryan’s prediction: Maryland 78, Indiana 73. This is gonna be another close one.