COLLEGE PARK, Md. _ It had been a month since Maryland's defense suffocated an opponent, holding Notre Dame to just 20 points in the first half of what became a 21-point win over the Fighting Irish at Xfinity Center in the ACC/Big Ten challenge.
It must be something about teams from the state of Indiana that fires up the Terps at the defensive end.
Struggling with its offense early in the first half and giving up a few too many scoring chances early in the second half of Saturday's home game against the state of Indiana's flagship school, No. 15 Maryland turned up its defense and turned away the Hoosiers, 75-59.
It was by far the most impressive performance by Mark Turgeon's team since beating Marquette, also by 21 points, in winning the Orlando Invitational.
While it wasn't always pretty for the Terps at the offensive end _ something they will need to improve on going into Tuesday's showdown here with No. 5 Ohio State _ the defense was reminiscent of what Maryland (12-2, 2-1) showed against Marquette and Notre Dame in a three-day span early last month.
Sophomore forward Jalen Smith led the Terps with 19 points and eight rebounds, while sophomore wing Aaron Wiggins finished with 13 points and eight rebounds. Senior guard Anthony Cowan Jr., who became the 15th player in school history to score more than 1,600 points, scored 13 points to go along six rebounds and six assists and didn't commit a turnover for a second straight game.
Senior guard Devonte Green led Indiana (11-3, 1-2) with 18 points.
Trailing the Hoosiers, 16-11, and going through a couple of long scoring droughts in the first half, Maryland used a defense-inspired 11-0 run to take the lead for good. The Terps built their 28-20 halftime lead to 33-22 on a windmill dunk by Wiggins before Indiana made its only run of the second half, cutting its deficit to 36-33 before Maryland's defense kicked in.
Maryland's offense finally followed, as Cowan's game picked up after a sluggish first half and his teammates, Smith in particular, joined in.
Maryland's lead grew to as many as 30 points, 71-41, on a wraparound dunk by Smith with 3:44 to play before Turgeon cleared his bench and the Hoosiers made the final score a little more respectable.
