Thus far in Big Ten play, Maryland men’s basketball has struggled to create any sort of momentum. The Terrapins are 4-5 in conference play and are yet to win back-to-back games against Big Ten teams.
However, Wednesday’s 73-55 win against Wisconsin could be a valuable step towards the Terps building momentum in Big Ten play. Let’s look at what went well against the Badgers before looking ahead to a stretch that could give the Terps a four-game winning streak before visiting Michigan State.
The obvious thing that Maryland did well against Wisconsin was their efficient shooting.
They made 56 percent of their field goals and 42.9 percent of their threes on their way to getting 73 points. It was the second time they made over 50 percent of their field goals in conference play and the first time they cleared 40 percent for their three-point percentage. Their three-point shooting was a massive turnaround from their prior game at Purdue, where they failed to make 20 percent of their shots from deep in a narrow loss.
It was also just the second time Wisconsin had allowed over 70 points in regulation against a Big Ten school this season, making it another encouraging sign from the win.
The victory was also a productive day for sophomore big man Julian Reese. After picking up 19 points at Purdue, he scored 14 against the Badgers while missing just one field goal. Between Purdue and Wisconsin, he averaged a very promising 16.5 points with a 78.9 field goal percentage.
These last two games have been a notable upgrade from his prior five games in Big Ten play, where he averaged under eight points per game and had a field goal percentage below 50 percent.
While it won’t count extra for the NCAA tournament committee or Kenpom, it was also nice for Maryland to pick up a home win during the first day of the spring semester. The student section was packed with fans in free black t-shirts and saw their team deliver a comfortable victory.
The win would’ve been encouraging either way, but handling business like that with a full student section felt like a nice demonstration of the home-court advantage Xfinity Center can provide when school is in session.
The good news will have two more home games after Wisconsin, starting with Nebraska on Saturday.
The Cornhuskers are ranked #98 on Kenpom, making them the second-worst team in the Big Ten according to the analytics website. Also, they are yet to win a road game in Big Ten play with a 3-7 record, and they’re coming off a 78-63 defeat against Northwestern in Lincoln on Wednesday.
Maryland should be able to win if Nebraska continues to be one of the worst three-point shooting teams in the country. The Cornhuskers make 30.2 percent of threes, ranking 325th out of 363 teams in Division 1 this season. Their worst three-pointing display of the season came at Michigan State, where they missed over 80 percent of their threes in a 2-for-16 clunker.
Nebraska will ideally be an easy win, but Indiana on January 31 could end up being a tougher matchup.
The Hoosiers sit at #23 on Kenpom, but are currently unranked in the AP poll. They’ve had a solid but ultimately underwhelming season as the preseason #13 with a 14-6 record that includes being 5-4 in Big Ten play. Indiana was on a three-game losing streak from January 5 to January 11, but rebounded from that to string together four straight wins.
When Indiana arrives in College Park, they’ll be bringing along a very productive big man: senior Trayce Jackson-Davis.
In Indiana’s four-game winning streak, he has averaged a remarkable 27.3 points and 14.3 rebounds while making 63.4 percent of his field goals. He is red hot and it seems like any path to a Maryland victory will include figuring out some way to force him to provide something worse than a 27-point, 14-rebound game.
Indiana certainly has the talent to be a tricky opponent for the Terps, but they hardly have a spotless road record after losing conference games at Rutgers, Iowa and Penn State so far this year.
If Maryland is able to put together three straight home wins against Wisconsin, Nebraska and Indiana, their reward will be their easiest road game of conference play: a trip to Minnesota.
The Golden Gophers are the worst team in Big Ten according to analytics (#182 on Kenpom) and the conference standings (a 1-8 record) and is a game Maryland should expect to win. Minnesota’s lone win in conference play wasn’t even at home and they’ve lost by double digits multiple times in home games against Big Ten teams.
The Gophers are also quite impressively dead last in the whole country for free-throw percentage, making 59.2 percent of their attempts from the charity stripe.
Maryland is yet to pick up a road win against a Big Ten school, but their visit to Williams Arena should take care of that.
If everything goes right for Maryland, they’ll be visiting Michigan State’s Breslin Center on February 7 with a four-game winning streak, a 7-5 record in conference play and a pretty nice bit of momentum. We’ll see how it goes from there.
BSL Analyst
Rose Katz is a recent graduate of the University of Maryland’s journalism school, where she worked for The Diamondback as the online managing editor and a sports blogger. As a student, she spent almost all of her time on campus in The Diamondback’s newsroom or at Xfinity Center, Ludwig Field and Maryland Stadium. Rose gained intern experience with the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN).