A Sea of Pink, A Tidal Wave of Fletcher Loyer: Purdue Drown Terps in 93-63 Shellacking

If you walked into the Xfinity Center on Sunday for Purdue vs Maryland, you might have thought you stumbled into a Valentine’s Day rave a couple of weeks early. The student section was back, vibrant and loud, decked out in pink for cancer awareness. It was a beautiful sight—until the basketball started.

Head Coach Buzz Williams called the ambience the “best environment of any game that I have coached in Xfinity thus far.” It’s a shame the team on the floor decided to treat that electric atmosphere like a funeral procession.

The No. 12 Purdue Boilermakers came into College Park fresh off a three-game skid, looking angry and desperate. Maryland, meanwhile, looked like they were politely holding the door open for them. The result was a 93-63 drubbing, the Terps’ worst home loss of the century.

The First Half: An Avalanche In Slow Motion

From the jump, you could smell trouble. Williams wanted aggressive face-guarding. He wanted pressure. What he got was a sieve. Purdue hit six of their first seven shots, treating Maryland’s transition defense like a mild suggestion rather than an obstacle.

Myles Rice, back in the starting lineup for the first time since December, had a night he’ll want to scrub from the archives. Seventeen minutes. Zero points. Zero assists. One rebound. Two turnovers. It was the kind of stat line that makes you double-check the box score to make sure he actually played.

Without a functioning point guard, Maryland’s offense looked like a car trying to start in sub-zero temperatures. They managed a whopping seven points in the first 11 minutes. Then there was the brief flicker of hope—the cruelest part of sports. Darius Adams hit a three. Andre Mills, who was arguably the only Terp who realized a game was happening, hit back-to-back contested threes. Suddenly, the deficit was only ten with six minutes left in the half. The crowd woke up. Maybe, just maybe, this wasn’t over.

The Fletcher Loyer Horror Show

Enter Fletcher Loyer. The Purdue guard decided personally that Maryland fans didn’t deserve happiness on this particular Sunday. He torched the Terps for 29 points in 27 minutes. In the first half alone, he had seven field goals. Maryland, as an entire team, had nine.

He found space where there was none. He hit shots with hands in his face. He looked like he was playing Pop-A-Shot at Dave & Buster’s while Maryland was trying to solve a calculus equation.

And he wasn’t alone. Braden Smith, despite looking like he might ask you for your ID at a college bar, diced up the defense with 19 points and 6 assists. Williams eventually had to sit defensive specialist David Coit just to try and stop the bleeding. It didn’t work. Nothing worked.

By halftime, the lead had ballooned to 21. The pink shirts were still bright, but the mood was pitch black.

Second Half: Garbage Time Generosity

Purdue Head Coach Matt Painter, perhaps feeling a pang of pity or just wanting to save his starters for the brutal February schedule ahead, took his foot off the gas. It was the basketball equivalent of a mercy rule.

This allowed Maryland to finally run something resembling an offense. Darius Adams found his stroke, finishing with 17 points. Andre Mills ended with a career-high 18. Even with Purdue chilling out, they still shot nearly 53% from the field. When Maryland tried to foul to extend the game, Purdue calmly sank 20-of-25 free throws. It was clinical. It was efficient. It was everything Maryland wasn’t.

The Aftermath: Empty Seats and Hard Questions

By the final four minutes, the “Let’s Go Boilers” chants were echoing off the empty red seats. Maryland fans had seen enough. They were already filing out, heading home to rethink their Sunday choices.

This loss marks the fourth time this season Maryland has lost by 30 or more points. Four times. Since joining the Big Ten, before this season, they had only suffered three such losses total. “We need to be way better in every possible way,” Williams said post-game. That might be the understatement of the year.

The rebounding was abysmal—Purdue had more offensive rebounds in the first half than Maryland had defensive rebounds. Elijah Saunders fouled out in 13 minutes with a stat line full of zeroes. It was a total system failure.

Maryland fans are loyal. They showed up in pink. They brought the noise. But you can only ask a fanbase to cheer for a train wreck for so long before they start looking for the exit. With a month left in the season, the Terps need to find some color, some fight, and maybe a little bit of pride. Otherwise, those red seats are going to get a lot more lonely.