Hmmm, where to begin. Let’s take some baby steps here. Save for the last few minutes where it all unraveled, Indiana hung right with Maryland, and during several stretches, outplayed and outworked the Terrapins –  a tournament team last season. A team that was ranked earlier this year. IU had a lead with 9:44 to go. It led for a good stretch in the first half. As much as we want expectations to be higher and wins to be a result, at this juncture in the season it’s progress.

The Puerto Rico incarnation of these Hoosiers likely doesn’t keep it this close for this long, or look as poised and as polished as IU did for stretches tonight.

About the only other thing I want to point out here is one key difference this year as opposed to last, and that’s IU actually having viable options off the bench. When Jeremiah Rivers went down with his injury early in the first half after that nifty layup– I worry his trashing style of play might lead to more scary moments like that later in the season — Jordan Hulls filled in without skipping a beat. He hit a three, and had a dazzling no-look pass to Christian Watford under the bucket. Watford scored, was fouled and hit the free throw. Having two capable point guards will be huge as the season progresses. Derek Elston also showed some spark off the bench, too. He didn’t have a good shooting night, but he had nine boards in 20 minutes. He continues to make the most out of his time on the court.

THE BAD: LOOOOONG SCORING DROUGHTS.

IU still seems to be figuring things out in the half court. When they got out in transition in the first half, they made some heady decisions. But when they were forced into half-court sets, there still seems to be a lot of indecision, and it’s clear this is still a facet of the their game that’s a work in progress. However, there was good ball movement in stretches.

But when you add in a night of awful shooting — IU shot a woeful 23-70 from the field (32.9 percent), 7-of-26 from three-point land (26.9 percent) and 15-of-22 from the charity stripe (68.2 percent) including the front end of one-and-one’s in the second half — and some poor shot selection (Devan Dumes, I’m looking at you) on top of some inexperience in the half court, it’s incredibly difficult to pull out a victory, especially against a team of Maryland’s caliber.

There’s a reason IU had had 20 offensive rebounds tonight: they had plenty of misses to gobble up.

THE UGLY: LATE-GAME FOULS, THE SLATE AHEAD.

This is a minor, petty gripe, and I know a game is never over till it’s over, but IU seemed to be fouling when they were down 12 or so with around 30 seconds left. It prolonged the sting of the loss, and that’s never fun.

IU has week a off, and then takes on Pitt — another fringe Top 25 team — at Madison Square Garden. The following Saturday, they have Kentucky  — one of the best teams in the nation — at home. If they don’t start shooting better, they may be out of those games far earlier than tonight’s affair.

At some point, IU is going to put it all together, and beat a team that has more talent and experience. They have too much talent, and will only continue to get better. But don’t expect it to come until Big Ten play starts.

But after a Christian Watford free throw tied the game at 54 with 8:49 remaining, the more experienced Terrapins went on a 16-4 run on their way to a comfortable 80-68 win in the Big-Ten ACC Challenge.

The loss was the fourth in five games for Indiana.

Greivis Vasquez scored 23 points to lead Maryland (5-2), which shot 47 percent from the field. Vasquez hit 13 of 14 free throws. Three other Terrapins scored in double figures, led by 19 from Landon Millbourne.

“It was a winnable game and we did not pressure the ball well enough,” Indiana head coach Tom Crean said. “We did not play physical enough, we did not play tough enough on the defensive end.”

The Hoosiers, on the other hand, shot just 33 percent and despite pulling down 20 offensive rebounds, scored just 16 second chance points. Maurice Creek scored 19 points to lead IU and Christian Watford added 16.

Indiana led by seven with 5:29 remaining in the first half on a pair of free throws by Creek, but Maryland closed the half on a 14-5 run to grab a 35-33 halftime lead.

The Terps took the lead for good at the 8:36 mark on a free throw by Adrian Bowie and IU’s final lead was 53-52 with 9:44 on a jump shot by Verdell Jones.

Besides Creek and Watford, Indiana struggled to find offense. Jones shot just 3-of-15 and Derek Elston and Devan Dumes each shot 2-of-10 from the floor. The Hoosiers hit just 7-of-26 three-point attempts.

Crean unhappy with student chants towards Vasquez: “We can be obnoxious, we can be nasty, we can cheer against the other team, but we never use vulgarity. We never use vulgarities against an opponent. That’s not what happened at Indiana in the past and it’s certainly not going to happen under my watch. But I love our fans. I love the energy they brought us tonight. We did not match the energy of our fans. But at no point in time are vulgarities in that crowd going to be accepted. And that cannot happy at Indiana. We have too much pride. We have too many great students, great memories, too many tradition based things here for anything to ever turn it the other way. And nobody deserves that. We’ve got to find a way to be obnoxious without being vulgar because we’re too good for that.”

Maryland turns it over: The Terrapins committed a season-high 18 turnovers. They came into the game averaging just 10.7 per game.

Jeremiah Rivers injury: After a reverse layup with 18:56 remaining in the first half, Rivers left the game with back spasms. He returned later in the first half and finished with five points, six rebounds, two assists, a block and a steal in 19 minutes.

Up next: Pittsburgh on Tuesday, Dec. 8 at Madison Square Garden at 9:00 EST. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.

Crean discusses fan behavior, courtesy of Ronan O’Shea on YouTube:

Player postgame interviews, courtesy of IU Athletics on YouTube:

Date: Tuesday, December 1 | 7:30 pm EST

Arena: Assembly Hall (17,357) – Bloomington, Indiana

Line: Maryland by 4.5

All-time series: Indiana leads 5-1

TV: ESPN2 (Sean McDonough and Bill Raftery)

Radio: IU Radio Network (Don Fischer, Todd Leary and Joe Smith)

Probable Starters:

• Maryland (4-2): Greivis Vasquez, Sean Mosley, Eric Hayes, Landon Milbourne, Jordan Williams
• Indiana (3-3): Jeremiah Rivers, Verdell Jones, Maurice Creek, Christian Watford, Tom Pritchard

Game Notes:

• Maryland
• Indiana

Game Day Reading:

• Jeremiah Rivers talks matchup with Maryland (IUHoosiers.com)
• Quotes from Gary Williams Monday press conference (UMTerps.com)
• Expect crowd to play factor in Maryland game (Indiana Daily Student)
• IU set for “white-out” against Terps (Indiana Daily Student)
• Hoosiers face first major test at home from Maryland (Indiana Daily Student)
• Crean challenges fans (Ft. Wayne Journal Gazette)
• Looking ahead to Indiana-Maryland (Testudo Times)

As always, game predictions and thoughts are welcome in the comments leading up to tip-off and during the game.

+ Northwestern State PTC Winner: Maurice Creek. That’s two straight for Creek. Click here for updated standings through six games.

The best way to describe the tumultuous 2008-2009 season for the Maryland Terrapins is by the use of two words that are not often paired together: effectively inconsistent.

There were shining moments: A 84-71 first round NCAA Tournament win over California, an early season rout of national runner-up Michigan State and an 88-85 home overtime win on February 21 over national champion North Carolina.

And there were moments that were downright ugly: A war of words between school officials and Gary Williams, a home loss to Morgan State and a 85-44 beatdown at the hands of the Duke Blue Devils in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

If not for its wins over North Carolina and Michigan State, Maryland’s 7-9 ACC record probably wouldn’t have been enough to receive an at-large bid. But those victories, coupled with two conference tournament wins, pushed the Terps into the field of 64.

This year’s Maryland team enters Assembly Hall on Tuesday coming off of back-to-back losses in the Maui Invitational to Cincinnati and Wisconsin. And their four wins, much like Indiana’s three, are nothing to write home about: Charleston Southern, Fairfield, New Hampshire and Chaminade.

Senior guard Greivis Vasquez (pictured), who tested the NBA Draft waters following last season, is the top returnee for Williams. The 6-6 guard is struggling with his shot through six games (33 percent), but he’s picked up where he left off a season ago at the foul line (83 percent) and also with distributing the ball (5.3 apg).

Joining Vasquez in the backcourt are 6-4 sophomore Sean Mosley (13.2 ppg, 4.7 rpg and 3.8 apg) and 6-4 senior Eric Hayes, who hit 86 percent of his free throws a season ago. Adrian Bowie, a 6-2 junior who started last season, is now coming off the bench and is shooting just 31 percent thus far.

Up front, 6-7 senior Landon Milbourne returns as Maryland’s most dangerous threat on the block. Milbourne is leading the team with 13.7 ppg and is shooting 56 percent from the field. A pair of freshman, 6-9 Jordan Williams and 6-8 James Padgett, are leading the Terps in rebounding. Williams is averaging close to eight rebounds in 22 minutes and Padgett is pulling down 5.5 a game.

The strength of this team lies in taking care of the ball, experience and knocking down free throws. They’ve done remarkably well early with limiting turnovers — just 10.7 per game. But they’ve struggled from the foul line, hitting just 65 percent to this point, down from 76 percent a season ago. They’re relatively undersized, which should bode well for the Hoosiers, who have had trouble defending the post.

All in all, this game should be a good barometer for Indiana to measure its progress since Puerto Rico. Maryland is significantly more experienced than IU, but they’re also going to be playing in front of a crowd hungry for the first big win in the Tom Crean era.

Here’s what Tom Crean had to say following Saturday’s victory against Northwestern State about the crowd support he’s hoping to have on Tuesday:

“We’ve got to get this crowd just as great as it can possibly be and as nuts as it can possibly be. And tell the fire marshall to stay home that night. We’ll get him tickets right behind the bench, we’ll let him come. Police chief too. We just need them all in here. We need everybody in here to make this place nuts.”

5. Maryland (Assembly Hall, December 1, 7:30 PM, ESPN2): Senior guard Greivis Vasquez returns to lead a Terrapin team that went 21-14 a year ago, advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament and should be among the top 25 teams in the country. The Venezuela native averaged 17.5 ppg, 5.4 rpg and 5.0 apg as a junior and tested the NBA Draft waters before deciding to return. Besides Vasquez, Gary Williams returns three other starters. It will be the first trip for Maryland to Assembly Hall.

4. Michigan (Crisler Arena, January 14, 9:00 PM, ESPN/ESPN2): Year three of the John Beilein era in Ann Arbor could find the Wolverines square in the middle of the Big Ten race with Michigan State and Purdue. After winning one game in the NCAA Tournament a year ago, Beilein has the pieces in place to make a run deeper into March. The one-two punch of guard Manny Harris and forward DeShawn Sims is arguably the best in the conference and the supporting cast is strong with guards Laval Lucas-Perry, Stu Douglass and Zack Novak all returning.

3. Michigan State (Assembly Hall, February 16, 7:00 PM, ESPN): The Spartans knocked off a pair of No. 1 seeds in Connecticut and Louisville a year ago before falling to North Carolina in the national championship. Forward Goran Suton and guard Travis Walton are both gone, but Kalin Lucas returns as the front runner for Big Ten Player of the Year. Sprinkle in a healthy Delvon Roe with wings Durrell Summers and Chris Allen and the Spartans could be looking at Tom Izzo’s sixth Final Four appearance.

2. Kentucky (Assembly Hall, December 12, 12:00 PM, CBS): The Billy Gillispie era was short lived in Lexington and the Wildcats swung for the fences by hiring former Memphis coach John Calipari. The move paid immediate dividends as Calipari brought in the nation’s top recruiting class, highlighted by point guard John Wall and forward DeMarcus Cousins. Jodie Meeks opted for the NBA Draft, but forward Patrick Patterson returns to anchor the front court with Cousins and freshman Daniel Orton. Kentucky will be a consensus top five team nationally, but are there enough basketball’s to keep everybody happy?

1. Purdue (Mackey Arena, March 2/3/4, TBA, TBA): The rivalry between Indiana and Purdue will only become more heated as Tom Crean and Matt Painter battle for in-state recruits to build their programs. The Boilermakers figure to be in the race for the Big Ten regular season title and this late season test on the road could be the toughest of all for a young Indiana team. E’Twaun Moore, Robbie Hummel and JuJuan Johnson should all compete for first team All-Big Ten honors and Chris Kramer returns for his final season in West Lafayette.

Just missed the cut: Ole Miss (Puerto Rico Coliseum, November 19, 5:00 PM, ESPN2); Pittsburgh (Madison Square Garden, December 8, 9:00 PM, ESPN); Ohio State (Value City Arena, January 6, 8:30 PM, BTN); Illinois (Assembly Hall, January 30, 2:00 PM, ESPN/ESPN2).

Bloomington, Indiana – Indiana will host Maryland in a December 1 rematch of the 2002 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship Game in the 11th annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge Presented by Dick’s Sporting Goods on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN360.com. The two teams also met in the 2002 Challenge in Indianapolis as the Hoosiers came away win an 80-74 overtime win at Conseco Fieldhouse. IU leads the overall series 5-1.

“I think this is a matchup that our fans will enjoy,” said IU Head Coach Tom Crean. “Both programs have a great tradition and I would expect nothing less than an outstanding environment in Assembly Hall for this game. Gary Williams’ Maryland program has been and continues to be one of the most preeminent programs in America.”

From a personnel and competitiveness perspective, this is probably a good matchup for Indiana. On the other hand, there are plenty of other ACC teams (Duke, North Carolina and Wake Forest) I’d rather watch than Maryland. But that’s the way it goes when you’re coming off a six-win season. You can view the whole schedule of games after the jump.

2009 Big Ten/ACC Challenge schedule (times and networks are to be determined)

Monday, Nov. 30
Penn State at Virginia

Tuesday, Dec. 1
Maryland at Indiana
Michigan State at North Carolina
Northwestern at N.C. State
Virginia Tech at Iowa
Wake Forest at Purdue

Wednesday, Dec. 2
Boston College at Michigan
Duke at Wisconsin
Florida State at Ohio State
Illinois at Clemson
Minnesota at Miami