In his first year as head coach, Kevin Willard has his first chance at a big-time, home upset win Thursday night in College Park when his Maryland Terrapins take on the No. 3 Purdue Boilermakers.
Chris Knoche, the Terps basketball analyst on the call on Team 980, joined The Kevin Sheehan Show to preview tonight's game (6:30 p.m. start) and give the keys to how Maryland can come away with a win.
The Terps (17-8, 8-6 in Big Ten play) will look to avenge a 58-55 defeat in Indiana in January. Maryland responded to the defeat with four-straight wins, including an 11-point victory over the now No. 14 Indiana Hoosiers, but that streak was snapped by an ice-cold performance from behind the arc in East Lansing last week.
"They're not a good three-point shooting team," Knoche admitted about the Terps. But the key to tonight's game will be to be very physical against Purdue's 7-foot-4 center Zach Edey to keep Maryland in the game.
"I like Maryalnd's chances tonight," Sheehan said. "You said it, Purdue's been a different team on the road, they've lost their last two road games, they had a super close call in a road game at Michigan and at Michigan State."
Knoche said there is the belief that "the book is out" on how to play the Boilermakers and that could help Maryland, who "has been lights out" at home. "This would be a tremendous win for this team," he added.
Tonight's game will be one of Willard's last chances of the regular season to score an NCAA Tournament resume-boosting win before a surging Northwestern side visits later this month. And for the head coach, a raucous home crowd could play a big advantage for his team.
But Maryland will have to buck a recent rough trend as they enter Thursday's game with an 11-game losing streak against foes ranked in the Top 5 of the AP poll, The Washington Post noted.
You can listen to pre-game, postgame, and in-game coverage of Maryland vs. No. 3 Purdue right here on The Team 980, starting at 6 p.m. Thursday.
Follow @BenKrimmel on @Team980 for more.