Game Day Essentials:
Indiana (11-3) vs. Maryland (7-7)
- Tip Time: 6:30 p.m. Eastern, Wednesday
- Location: XFINITY Center (17,300), College Park, Md.
- Television: BTN (Jason Horowitz, Steve Smith)
- Radio: IU Radio Network (Don Fischer, Errek Suhr, John Herrick)
- Stream: Fox Sports
- Point Spread: Indiana is around a -point favorite
- KenPom Projected Score: Indiana 77 Maryland 70
- History: Indiana leads the series, 14-10
- Last Meeting: Maryland 79, IU 78 on Jan. 26, 2025, in Bloomington
- Tickets (via our StubHub affiliate link)
Maryland’s Buzz Williams
Buzz Williams is in his 19th season as a head coach in Division I basketball. Across those seasons, he has compiled a 380-235 (.618) overall record. With multiple stops across notable programs, Williams now leads Maryland in his first season.
Williams began his head coaching career with one season at New Orleans in 2006-2007. After an assistant role for a season, Williams was promoted to be the head coach of Marquette in 2008. Williams achieved some success with the Golden Eagles, earning five NCAA Tournament appearances and a Big East regular-season championship. Williams left Marquette for Virginia Tech in 2014 and took them to three straight NCAA Tournament appearances from 2016 to 2018.
Williams led another turnaround with Texas A&M when he was hired in 2019. After missing the tournament in his first three seasons, he led his program to three straight appearances, culminating in a Round of 32 visit last season. He won SEC Coach of the Year twice with the Aggies. After Kevin Willard was named head coach at Villanova, Williams was offered and accepted the head position at Maryland.
Maryland’s results and roster
| DATE | OPPONENT | LOCATION | RESULT |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11/3/2025 | Coppin State | Baltimore, Md. | W 83-61 |
| 11/7/2025 | Georgetown | College Park, Md. | L 60-70 |
| 11/11/2025 | Alcorn State | College Park, Md. | W 84-64 |
| 11/15/2025 | at Marquette | Milwaukee, Wis. | W 89-82 |
| 11/19/2025 | Mount St. Mary’s | Seattle, Wash. | W 95-90 (OT) |
| 11/24/2025 | vs. UNLV (Players Era Tournament) | Las Vegas, Nev. | W 74-67 |
| 11/25/2025 | vs No. 12 Gonzaga (Players Era Tournament) | Las Vegas, Nev. | L 61-100 |
| 11/26/2025 | vs. No. 8 Alabama (Players Era Tournament) | Las Vegas, Nev. | L 72-105 |
| 12/2/2025 | Wagner | College Park, Md. | W 89-63 |
| 12/6/2025 | at Iowa | Iowa City, Iowa | L 64-83 |
| 12/13/2025 | No. 2 Michigan | College Park, Md. | L 83-101 |
| 12/20/2025 | at No. 20 Virginia | Charlottesville, Va. | L 72-80 |
| 12/28/2025 | Old Dominion | College Park, Md. | W 73-58 |
| 1/2/2025 | Oregon | College Park, Md. | L 54-64 |
Maryland’s Game Notes (via Maryland Athletics)
DIGGY AMONG THE NATION’S TOP ACTIVE SCORERS
- Diggy Coit’s 1,410 career points are 44th among active NCAA players.
- Coit has the 10th most career points among active Big Ten players. Chad Baker-Mazara is 40th with 1,444, while Prudue’s Fletcher Loyer (32nd) is just ahead at 1,483 career points.
- Among the top 14 players under 6-0 on the scoring list, the 5-foot-11 Coit has the fifth-most career points.
EFFICIENT PAYNE
- Pharrel Payne leads the Big Ten in active career field goal percentage and is eighth nationally. He is also one of the top offensive rebounders in the country.
- Payne has been a reliable scorer in the paint, as he’s been over 60% from the field in all three of his previous collegiate seasons, and his 63.8% career field goal percentage is the best among active B1G players. Part of that field goal percentage is his ability to clean up around the rim, as he led the SEC last season in second-chance points per 40 minutes.
RICE, WATTS REUNITE ON THE EAST COAST
- While having so many new players will take time for chemistry to form, for Myles Rice and Isaiah Watts coming to Maryland serves as a basketball reunion.
- The two were teammates at Washington State in 2023-24 where the pair helped the Cougars make their first NCAA Tournament since 2008.
- Rice is known throughout the Big Ten after playing at Indiana last year, where he averaged 10.1 points per game in 32 games.
HOME COOKIN’
- Maryland is 333-80 (.813) all-time at the XFINITY Center. Over the past four years (including 2025-26), the Terps have six home Top-25 victories, highlighted by the 2022-23 win over No. 3 Purdue.
- Maryland won a program-record 14 consecutive Big Ten conference games at XFINITY, including all 10 games in 2022-23 and the final three of 2021-22.
No. 112 Maryland’s KenPom notable numbers:
(out of 365 teams)
Tempo – No. 191 (Offense No. 185 / Defense No. 42)
Offensive Efficiency – No. 143
- Maryland holds an effective field goal percentage of 47.5 percent on the year (No. 292). The Terps are shooting 32.8 percent from three (No. 211) and 46.2 percent on 2s (No. 320).
- The Terps have had a fair share of struggles on the offensive side of the ball. However, their free-throw distribution is one of the highest in the country at 26.3 percent of all points (No. 8).
- Maryland also turns it over at an 18.8 percent rate (No. 270). Opposing teams are also getting blocks at a high 14.7 percent clip (No. 361).
Defensive Efficiency – No. 84
- Opponents hold a 53.9 percent effective field goal percentage against Maryland (No. 276). Teams are shooting 36.9 percent from three (No. 314) and 52.9 percent on 2s (No. 219).
- Teams are finding the most points from beyond the arc against Maryland, with a 35.3 percent distribution of total points (No. 61).
- Maryland forces a decent amount of turnovers at a 19.1 percent rate (No. 83).
- Teams are achieving a high assist rate against the Terps (60.6%, No. 341)
OG’s Pick
Overall: 12-2
I’m predicting a weird one here. I still haven’t seen enough from Indiana in a road environment to control a game. Maryland is pretty good at home and are a better defensive team than offense. Pharrel Payne’s availability is still up in the air, but signs are pointing to him being out. Overall, I think the Hoosiers control this one, but it may not be as comfortable as they would hope.
PICK: Indiana 79 – Maryland 71
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