With just under a minute left and Maryland holding onto a three-point lead against No. 6 Wisconsin, Donta Scott received a pass from Aaron Wiggins and drove into the paint, throwing down a pivotal dunk to give the Terps a 64-59 lead.
It was the most important basket of an efficient 12-point performance from Scott where he went 5-for-9 on field goals, while making both of his free throws. That performance helped Maryland upset the Badgers in their arena for Maryland’s first win over a top ten team on the road since joining the Big Ten. Scott’s dunk was just part of a larger positive from Maryland’s win: the core four returning players from last year’s conference champion all showed up. Scott, along with Eric Ayala, Darryl Morsell and Aaron Wiggins made at least 45 percent of their field goals in the upset. The four of them also combined to go 11-for-12 on free throws, with Ayala going 4-for-4 in the final 30 seconds to ensure Wisconsin had no chance for a comeback. Ayala’s 17 points were the most he’s had in his four games against power conference foes this season and only Morsell failed to reach double figures.
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The win for Maryland provided both positive trends to build on for its key players and a blueprint for success going forward.
The most notable positive trend was another game in the sophomore year breakout of Scott. He has provided key contributions in Maryland’s previous three meetings against power conference schools and Wisconsin was simply more of the same. In the ugly loss to Clemson, only Scott managed to score in double digits, while shooting 3-of-4 from deep in a game where the Terps only made a third of their threes. Scott then delivered a career-high 20 points in the loss to Rutgers with a strong 6-for-10 day from the field and followed that with a Christmas Day meeting against Purdue ended with Scott as the leading scorer in another game where he made over 50 percent of his attempts from the field. Through his first three games in Big Ten play, Scott has made over 50 percent of his field goals and over 40 percent of threes, both a major improvement from last season.
Scott’s improvement as a sophomore also appears to be another year of an encouraging development trend for Maryland’s big men. Bruno Fernando and Jalen Smith looked like much better players during their second year at Maryland, with Fernando and Smith both showing enough growth to head to the pros after year two. While it’s far too early to know if Scott has done enough to be a draft pick after two years, anyone who is 6-foot-7 and making 40 percent of his threes in a power conference will certainly earn some attention.
As Scott was having an excellent sophomore campaign, Morsell’s senior year was a bumpy start. Against Clemson, Morsell made two of his ten shots and his performance against Rutgers was an equally concerning 3-for-13 from the field. He was able to get back to making field goals with a 4-for-6 Christmas performance, but he struggled with free throws, missing five, including both of his attempts with Maryland trailing by two with 19 seconds left. Morsell’s eight points against the Badgers saw him make half of his field goals, half of his threes and half of his free throws. He only made it to the line twice, so a 1-for-2 night at the line is a significant improvement from his 1-for-6 day against the Boilermakers.
As for Ayala and Wiggins, seeing the junior duo as the leading scorers in such a big win felt encouraging after they both spent last year seeing dips in their field goal and three-point percentage. In conference play, Ayala’s three-point percentage dipped from .392 to .266, while Wiggins went from .423 to .318. Wiggins didn’t manage to make a three against the Badgers, but his 15 points from twos and free throws showed an ability to score even his shooting from deep is off, plus his nine rebounds led the game.
Maryland probably won’t beat every top ten team it faces the rest of the season, but this win did demonstrate that the Terps should have a chance in games where they’re the underdog as long as they don’t find themselves leaning too heavily on just one or two of their players. Jalen Smith is in the NBA and Anthony Cowan graduated, so Maryland can’t have them come up with clutch baskets down the stretch anymore. In the first huge test of Maryland’s new era, Wiggins led Maryland with 13 field goal attempts, a figure Anthony Cowan matched or exceeded in 12 games, while Jalen Smith did so six times. Wiggins taking 13 shots, Ayala taking 11 and Scott taking nine meant Maryland wasn’t overly reliant on one scorer, which is an offensive focus they should look to try to repeat going forward.
Additionally, Maryland showed how much easier it is to win basketball games when the team makes 80 percent of their free throws instead of the 48 percent they posted against Purdue. Free throws on the road this year in college basketball are a unique situation, where a loud student section trying to distract you is replaced by silence and cardboard cutouts of fans. Perhaps it could just be as simple as the Terps getting used to the lack of noise in their third road game of the year and if so, avoiding another performance like the Purdue game could be pivotal in Maryland’s close games the rest of the year.
Cowan and Smith aren’t coming back, but it’s not as if Maryland had its entire roster from last year’s Big Ten title leave the program through graduation or going pro. While this year’s roster won’t be strong enough to repeat as conference champions, the upset over Wisconsin showed there’s still plenty of talent that can give Maryland the chance to hang with almost anyone. In a deep Big Ten that started this week with nine teams in the AP top 25, Wisconsin will hardly be Maryland’s last chance to boost their tournament resume with a quality win. If Scott continues his breakout season and Maryland’s upperclassmen have efficient games scoring, the Badgers certainly won’t be the last top 25 team to lose to the Terps this year.
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).