Maryland (8-1) vs. Purdue (7-2)
December 8, 2024 12:00 pm EDT
The Line: Purdue -3; Over/Under: +142
(Get latest betting odds)
The Maryland Terrapins and the Purdue Boilermakers meet Sunday in college basketball action from Mackey Arena. Here’s a Purdue vs Maryland prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Purdue vs Maryland pick.
Maryland Terrapins Betting Preview
The Terrapins beat Manhattan, Mount St. Mary’s and Florida A&M in their first three games this year before a loss to Marquette. Maryland has beaten Canisius, Villanova, Bucknell, Alcorn State and Ohio State since then.
In the Ohio State game on Wednesday, the Terrapins led by a wild 50-17 margin at halftime. Maryland cruised from there in an 83-59 blowout win. Ja’Kobi Gillespie led the way on 23 points with four assists in the victory effort.
Purdue Boilermakers Betting Preview
Over on the Purdue side, they beat Texas A&M-CC, Northern Kentucky, Yale and Alabama in their first four. The Boilermakers are 2-3 since then with losses to Marquette and Penn State around wins versus Marshall, NC State and Ole Miss.
In Thursday’s matchup versus Penn State, the Boilermakers were drilled 40-24 in the first half. Purdue scored 46 more points from there but still lost by an 81-70 margin. Trey Kaufman-Renn and Fletcher Loyer each scored a team-high 15 points.
Why the Purdue Boilermakers will win
- Purdue has won each of its last 26 games at Mackey Arena against non-AP-ranked opponents.
- Maryland has lost eight of its last nine day games against Top 10 AP-ranked opponents.
- Purdue has won the first half in each of its last 21 day games at Mackey Arena.
Why the Maryland Terrapins will win
- Maryland has won eight of its last nine games.
- Purdue has lost three of its last four games when playing with a rest disadvantage against Maryland.
- Maryland has won the first half in eight of its last nine games.
Purdue vs Maryland Prediction
I’ll lean toward Maryland. The Terrapins dismantled a decent Ohio State team in their last outing, shooting 46.8 percent from the field with 39 rebounds and 22 points off 17 Buckeyes turnovers. Maryland has been scoring great this year so far; they’ve hit 74 or more points in every game.
As for Purdue, they shot a nice 51.1 percent from the field in their loss to Penn State, but the bad first half and the 24 turnovers (for 32 Nittany Lions points) did the Boilermakers in. Purdue has hit 70 points in eight of nine games so far (58 versus Marquette being the outlier), so it wouldn’t be surprising to see a fairly hefty total here. I like Maryland to eke it out in a close game, though.
