WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. | Braden Smith had 24 points and 10 assists, and No. 8 Purdue held off Maryland for an 83-78 win on Sunday.
Trey Kaufman-Renn scored 21 points for the Boilermakers (8-2, 1-1 Big Ten), who bounced back after a loss to Penn State on Thursday. Camden Heide added 15 points and Fletcher Loyer finished with 12.
Derik Queen led the Terrapins (8-2, 1-1) with 26 points on 11-of-18 shooting and grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds. Ja’Kobi Gillespie scored 18 points and Selton Miguel and Rodney Rice each had 13. Julian Reese fouled out with five points and seven rebounds.
Queen’s 26 points was a career-high and his fifth 20-point performance of his freshman season.
Purdue used an 8-0 run to take a 77-67 lead with 2:00 left. Smith sparked the run with a 3-pointer.
Heide made three late foul shots to help close it out.
The Terrapins led 36-31 at halftime. Both teams made 13 of 35 shots in the first half, but the Terrapins had three more 3-pointers.
The Terrapins held their own for most of the game in a road battle. Maryland held a 37-34 rebounding advantage, but that narrowed from a 25-16 edge in the opening half.
But after shooting 37% in the first half, the Boilermakers made 53% of their shots in the second half. Despite Maryland’s size advantage, Purdue had a 42-32 edge in points in the paint.
Kaufman-Renn’s layup put Purdue up for good at 63-62 with 7:01 left.
“We weren’t able to adjust, and I think that really hurt us,” Maryland coach Kevin Willard said. “Our halfcourt defense in the first half was really good. Our transition defense in the second half was, the crowd got into it, we got a little rattled, and we did some things. … This was our first road game. It reminded me of some of the things we did against Marquette.”
The Boilermakers went 7 for 16 from 3-point range in the second half after going 2 for 10 from deep in the first half.
Maryland hosts St. Francis (Pa.) on Dec. 17, and Purdue plays No. 22 Texas A&M on Saturday in Indianapolis.
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