Maryland @ Iowa preview

Last Meeting ( Feb 19, 2019 ) Maryland 66, Iowa 65

Maryland looks to build off one of its best wins of the season when it visits Iowa in a Big Ten game Friday. The No. 14 Terrapins, who dropped a pair of contests in December to fall out of the top 10, beat 12th-ranked Ohio State 67-55 on Tuesday to notch their first victory over a ranked opponent in 2019-20, and hope to extend their winning streak to four games by taking down the Hawkeyes in Iowa City for the third straight time.

"Those two losses kind of brought us back to ground level," Maryland guard Eric Ayala told reporters. "We needed that little punch in the mouth and I think we're back in the hunt trying to get back to our spot." Iowa is heading in the wrong direction following a disappointing 76-70 loss to Nebraska on Tuesday. The Hawkeyes had won four consecutive games to climb into the national rankings, but have dropped their first two contests of the calendar year, and hope to bounce back from a cold shooting performance from 3-point range after going 4-of-33 against the Cornhuskers by knocking off a Top 25 team for the second time this season. "I always tell my guys if they're open to shoot the ball," Iowa coach Fran McCaffery told reporters. "We didn't shoot it well and we weren't as good as we needed to be for 40 minutes."

TIME: 7 p.m. ET. TV: Fox Sports 1

ABOUT MARYLAND (13-2, 3-1 Big Ten): Anthony Cowan Jr. scored a game-high 20 points and pulled down six rebounds against Ohio State to help the Terrapins improve to 10-0 at home. Jalen Smith added 11 points, seven rebounds and a pair of blocked shots while Darryl Morsell finished with 10 points and two steals as Maryland held the Buckeyes to 31.3 percent shooting from the floor. "We always talk about how defense wins championships," Morsell told reporters. "Even when our offense isn't clicking we just guard and we just found a way to win."

ABOUT IOWA (10-5, 1-2): Joe Wieskamp scored 15 of his team-high 21 points in the second half and grabbed seven rebounds but finished 1-of-10 from 3-point land against Nebraska. Luka Garza added 16 points and a career-high 18 rebounds against the Cornhuskers to record his ninth double of the season en route to becoming the 27th player in program history to join the 1,000-point, 500-rebound club. Joe Toussaint produced 14 points, six rebounds and four assists while C.J. Fredrick, who is averaging 10.3 points this season, is likely to miss his second consecutive game with a foot injury.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Cowan has scored 20 or more points in five of his last 10 games.

2. Garza was seventh nationally entering Thursday in points per game at 22.1.

3. Maryland is second in the Big Ten in free throws made (264).

PREDICTION: Maryland 78, Iowa 74