For a while, Maryland was kind of a forgotten team. They got a lot of attention early when they won the Orlando Invitational on Thanksgiving weekend, and a bit after that. But then came two straight losses, and a little later on, two straight losses again. All of a sudden, no one was talking about them.
With all the parity in college basketball, and the Terrapins being part of that, they seemed to fade a bit in the national discussion, especially since when they lost, other teams won and gained momentum. But now it’s the Terrapins who have a lot of momentum and more big wins, including Friday night’s 75-66 win at Illinois to take sole possession of first place in the Big Ten.
Maryland edged Illinois 59-58 in the teams’ first meeting, the Big Ten opener for both teams in December. There, the Terrapins had to rally from 15 down to win on their home floor. On Friday night, they trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half, but rallied early and got the deficit down to two at the break. Then they went on an early 13-0 run in the second half to take the lead and never looked back, though Illinois got within one a couple of times.
The game was an emotional one, with five technical fouls called, including one on each head coach. This isn’t known as a rivalry – it certainly won’t make anyone forget many of the Duke-Maryland games over the past couple of decades or the Braggin’ Rights Games – but you wouldn’t have known it from tonight.
In light of that, it’s a further sign of the maturity of this Maryland team to stay calm and pull this one out. They are now 9-3 in the Big Ten with six straight wins, and their resume just keeps getting better. They are 19-4 overall with wins over Rhode Island, Harvard, Marquette, two over Illinois and Indiana, Iowa and Rutgers. The inside-outside combo of Anthony Cowan and Jalen Smith lead the way on a team with a lot of other contributors.
If they keep playing like this, people will be talking about Maryland quite a bit, and all the way through March.
Side Dishes
Inclement weather forced the Ivy League to move out the games to be played at Columbia and Cornell this weekend, starting with Friday night’s scheduled matchups with Penn at Columbia and Princeton at Cornell. Those games will now be played on Saturday at 2 p.m., while Saturday night’s games have now been moved to Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m.
One of the Ivy League games that was played was a dandy as expected in New Haven. Harvard had a 13-point halftime lead at Yale, but the Bulldogs rallied in the second half. In the final seconds, Yale guard Azar Swain hit a three-pointer to bring the Bulldogs within one, and he was fouled on the play. The junior is a 77 percent free throw shooter coming into the game. He missed, Harvard rebounded and held on for a 78-77 win. The worst thing about the ending, as Swain was clearly beside himself after the miss, is that he had 33 points on 10-17 shooting on the evening, including 5-9 from long range and he had made all eight of his free throw attempts before that one. You have to feel for the young man, a great kid and competitor, at a time like that. The Crimson are now 3-2 in league play, a game back of Yale but also still behind undefeated Princeton, who was idle on the night due to weather issues. Brown held off Dartmouth 67-65 in the other game to be played on the night to join the Crimson at 3-2.
Other results of note: VCU took care of visiting Davidson 73-62; Northern Illinois moved to 8-3 in MAC play by edging Kent State 57-54 behind 27 points from Eugene German; South Alabama held off Troy 70-66; and Buffalo made a 16-point halftime lead stand up as they held off Central Michigan 65-60.
Tonight’s Menu
It’s another big day of action, including a number of rivalry games that include the grand-daddy of them all in college hoops.
- The ACC starts with a rivalry game as Miami visits Florida State (noon), then Louisville hosts Virginia (4 p.m.) before the big rivalry game of them all as North Carolina hosts Duke (6 p.m.)
- In America East, Vermont tries to build on its lead at the top as they travel to Hartford (7 p.m.)
- In Atlantic 10 play, Dayton hosts Saint Louis (2 p.m.), then Duquesne takes on St. Bonaventure at Robert Morris (3 p.m.)
- The Big 12 gets going with TCU hosting Kansas (noon), then Oklahoma hosts West Virginia (2 p.m.), Texas hosts Texas Tech (4 p.m.), Baylor hosts Oklahoma State (6 p.m.) and Iowa State hosts Kansas State (8 p.m.)
- Big East play starts with two teams badly needing a win as DePaul goes to Georgetown (noon), then the big one on the day comes up as Villanova hosts Seton Hall (2:30 p.m.) before Creighton hosts St. John’s (6 p.m.) and Xavier hosts Providence (8 p.m.)
- The Big Ten starts with a rivalry game as Michigan hosts Michigan State (noon), then another one is right behind it as Indiana hosts Purdue (2 p.m.) before Penn State hosts Minnesota (4 p.m.)
- San Diego State puts its undefeated mark on the line at Air Force (8 p.m.), and in a later Mountain West game, Utah State hosts Boise State (10 p.m.)
- There’s a big game in the Ohio Valley Conference as Belmont tries to build off their big win over Murray State as they host Austin Peay (6 p.m.), while the Racers visit Tennessee State later on (8:30 p.m.)
- In the Pac-12, Stanford tries to get going again as they visit Colorado (6 p.m.), then Arizona hosts UCLA and Arizona State hosts USC (10 p.m.) and Oregon State hosts Oregon (10:30 p.m.)
- The SEC slate starts off with a big one early as Auburn hosts LSU (noon), then a good rivalry game is on tap with Tennessee hosting Kentucky (1 p.m.), while Ole Miss hosts Florida a little later (2 p.m.)
- The Southern Conference has a key matchup as Furman visits Western Carolina (2 p.m.)
- There’s also a key matchup in the Southland as Sam Houston State travels to Nicholls (4 p.m.)
- A first place showdown is on tap in the SWAC as Prairie View A&M hosts Texas Southern, while two games involving teams just behind them are also on the slate as Alcorn State goes to Jackson State and Grambling hosts Southern (6:30 p.m.)
- A late rivalry game worth watching is Saint Mary’s hosting Gonzaga (10 p.m.)
