Maryland @ Indiana 9PM EST ESPNU

[hoosiers]

Yogi Ferrell was 3-17 from 3 point land in his last three games prior to tonight and he shoots .385 overall. Tonight, he shot what I thought were a lot of stupid shots that I'd love him to take normally, but hit everything he looked at making 7 of 8 three pointers.

Combine that with Collin Hartman doubling his previous career high with 15 and hitting everything he took and it was going to be a long night.

Indiana just had one of those games. Good for them. I think tonight will actually hurt them long term because Ferrell will think he should take those off balance pull up three pointers with people in his face.

My only beef and it isn't a big one is I was pretty amazed that Indiana left their starters in so long and that Farrell shot 2 more threes after MD had removed all their starters. I kind of thought that was bush league, but I didn't particularly care.

No way Indiana shoots anywhere near that level on a neutral court or on the road. But good for them tonight. On to the next game.

Believe it or not, one can toss out the 3 point shooting from both teams - including the Terps at 50%. This game went IU's way for two factors:

1) Yogi Ferrell is quick enough to neutralize Trimble (as much as that can be done) and allow IU to hold Maryland to 70 points. IU is going to beat Maryland a comfortable majority of the time if the Terps can't get above 70.

2) IU did not have a starter over 6'7" and won the rebounding battle - which is related to the fact that Dodd couldn't guard Hartman and the small lineup won out. Hartman was a pretty decent recruit who spent most of last year injured and is only now getting his legs under him. He held Illinois' Egwu to zero while playing the five last weekend and caused Dodd to only play 10 minutes tonight.

From an IU game-planning view, neutralizing Trimble with Yogi and neutralizing UMD height/Dodd while playing a 6'6" guy at the 5 were the designed keys to victory.

Your bush league comments are ... (being kind) not nice and mostly un-educated. IU has seen multiple double digit leads melt away in the second half. IU was ahead 69-57 against Penn State with under 7 mins left and that ended up basically a final few possessions game. IU led Ohio State 61-51 with 3:30 to go in the second half that was a final possession game. IU led Nebraska 67-54 with 4:50 to go in a game where the lead dwindled to 3 in the last minute. It was a big step tonight for IU to finish this game going away.

Yogi Ferrell was a 40% shooter from 3 last year and was 38.5% this year. He takes most of his threes from the top of the key. He is under-sized and knows full well the spacing needed to get the shot off or to drive. Yogi was written up as the top fifth grader in the country when he was 10, was a five star recruit, was the starting freshman PG for the 2012-13 IU team that spent a good portion of the season #1. His game is not going to change because he got hot in one particular game or didn't shoot well the prior three games.

[LayzieDES]

I just checked the game log. I was wrong. It was even later than I thought it was.

He shot the second to last 3 pointer with an 18 point lead and 1:31 left.

He shot the last 3 pointer with a 19 lead and 38 seconds left.

Protecting the lead? Ok, sure...

I thought the same thing when he shot those 3's so late, but of course the Terps shouldn't have even put themselves in that position to be complaining about it.

Indiana played a great game and clearly was the superior team for the night. They turned the tables on all of Maryland's strength's. The way they came out that second half just drained the Terps for the rest of the game.

[hoosiers]

Lol, I'm not trying to insult Ferrell. He is a great player. He just isn't nearly as good a shooter as he showed last night.

Regarding your "game slipping away" comment, give me a freaking break. It was a 19 point lead, Turgeon had pulled all his starters, and there were less than 2 minutes left and 1:15 left in the game. The next to last shot wasn't necessary and the last one certainly wasn't necessary. Ferrell was literally the only starter for either team in the game. It was a guy who was hot as hell doing two straight heat checks and hitting them. I don't particularly care that he did it, he seemed like a good enough guy after the game, etc... But that had NOTHING to do with making sure they won the game. Varum Ram was guarding him on the last shot. He is about MD's 11th player. Turgeon was up 23 with 10 min left against Michigan State and had the Terps holding ball at the top of key for 30 seconds each trip down. Different strokes for different folks, but don't piss on my shoes and tell me it is raining. The shots weren't needed to protect the lead.

I wish you guys luck. Indiana is having a great year. For my money, your best player is James Blackmon Jr. That dude is pretty awesome, better than Trimble IMHO.

My point with the late game leads was that the starters were going to be in the game past the Under 4 time out and this team and fan base have seen double digit leads evaporate even with three and a half mins to go. I agree the starters should have been pulled when the clock got to 2 and change, but Crean left Yogi in to be last guy taken out of the game to crowd acknowledgement. Regarding the late 3s, someone was going to take them, Yogi was feeling it and let it fly. It wasn't piling on.

JBJ is a tremendous shooter, but has other facets of his game to work on. He lacks strength and gets into trouble on drives and his defensive effort has been relatively weak until the last five games. When JBJ gets stronger and becomes more than a scorer, he will be an elite player.

It is a fun team to watch because it is under-sized and there has to be strong effort. IU appears to have turned a corner with its offensive efficiency the last few games and the shot selection, patience and cuts to the basket have kicked up a notch - something Turgeon noted after the game. We'll see. IU's ceiling seems a bit higher today than yesterday, but teams with effective interior big men are going to be a handful. Otherwise, IU is putting out a couple of five star guards plus a crazy athletic kid like Troy Williams and an under-rated all around guard like Robert Johnson (from Virginia). IU's primary big man, Hanner Perea, is injured and the team is learning it might be better off without him. Most of the kids on the team will be here next year, so if Crean can land a quality big, next year's team could be special.

We'll see. I'm sure Maryland will re-group and be more physical and more focused defensively in our next game with much different results.

[Ruzious]

Already looking forward to the rematch - considering how much celebrating was going on by the Indiana players during the game. I don't want to beat them - I want to trounce them worse than they did to us.

[hoosiers]

Already looking forward to the rematch - considering how much celebrating was going on by the Indiana players during the game. I don't want to beat them - I want to trounce them worse than they did to us.

What else is IU (or anyone else) to do when playing a highly ranked team?

Lots of snarky, sour grapes here.

[glenn__davis]

Yeah, the last 2 3s from Farrell were definitely bush league. But like vatech said, not really that big a deal. I'd hope our guys wouldn't do that, and I'm pretty sure they wouldn't, so that makes me happy.

I remember during Vasquez' senior year he took and made a 3-pointer at the buzzer when MD was up by 10 or so against NC State and everyone else was walking off the court. Of course, that was on the road, and the crowd had been chanting xenophobic things at him all night. Little different to do that stuff at home.

[NewOwnerNeeded]

Also, I easily found the head coach I will hate most in the Big 10. Tom Crean acts like a world class douche on the sideline.

Well, he is married to a Harbaugh.

[JohnD]

Oh well, it happens. No use crying over it.

Can't wait to watch them get their asses kicked on my birthday in a few weeks.

[murph]

Missed the game, but not sure I could have seen it anyway (grumble, espnu, grumble, grumble) and not sure I am upset I missed it. Nothing worse than watching a couple of players find it against your team and not be much that can be done about it.

The loss is probably not a terrible thing, gives them so more motivation, keeps them from feeling invincible. They should come out strong against Northwestern at home on Sunday.