Indiana men’s basketball moved to 12-3 on the season and 4-1 in conference play with its first road win of the 2025-26 campaign, an 84-66 showing in College Park, Maryland.
For the second time in five conference games, the Hoosiers found themselves in a meeting of first-year head coaches, though Buzz Williams is having a harder go of it at Maryland than Niko Medved is at Minnesota. The Terps remain winless in the Big Ten, making the XFinity Center a tamer environment than its been recently.
Still,
a road game is a road game, and the Hoosiers struggled out of the gate, hitting just nine field goals in the first 2o minutes. Buckets were hard to come by inside and outside for Indiana, with 16 of the first 36 points coming from the free throw line.
Then Lamar Wilkerson came out for a few minutes of lights out shooting to start the second half, and the game was effectively over. Indiana got a lead it never relinquished and escaped Maryland with a win.
Here are 3 Takeaways from the game:
Lamar Wilkerson
If it wasn’t established by now, tonight’s game was proof that Wilkerson is Indiana’s best player. He finished with 24 points, his fourth straight with over 20 points, 16 of which came in a span of under five minutes early in the second half.
Significantly, it started with a layup, as he had gone 0-2 from deep in the first half. After that, he stepped back for a three, which he was fouled on. He converted on the free throw, then hit another three, a mid range jumper, and capped it off with a 33 footer to bury the Terrapins.
The confidence to keep shooting after a slow start and the willingness to get tough buckets at the rim make him a constant threat to defenses, even if its not showing up on the stat sheet yet. As long as he’s healthy, Indiana is going to have a chance to overpower any defense they see.
Slow Start
Had it not been against Maryland, the worst team in the Big Ten, per Kenpom, Indiana’s slow start today could very well have cost Darian DeVries another winnable road game. Those are the kinds of things that can make or break an NCAA Tournament resume by the end of the season.
For how badly his team was struggling in the first half, DeVries chose not to use any of his timeouts until the final minute. To his credit, Maryland was unable to take advantage of Indiana’s poor start, keeping the score within reach. It was still a notably passive approach to a number of issues that have plagued this team all year.
Indiana is going to continue having halves where it doesn’t shoot well. It is going to keep seeing teams with a physical and athletic advantage. I would like to see a more defined game plan for when this group struggles in the half court offense and can’t get on the fast break.
The win
In year one with a thrown-together roster, it’s not worth being overly concerned with anything besides the end result. Today, that was an 18-point road win.
As long as the offense, even if it’s just Wilkerson, can continue scoring in bunches, this team is going to be competitive in a lot of games. Especially on nights like tonight, when the Hoosiers once again managed to win the rebounding battle, 41-33.
After the win, Indiana is top 30 nationally in Kenpom’s offensive and defensive efficiency, top 25 in his team rankings, and projected to win at home against a ranked team Nebraska.
