Maryland @ Marquette preview

Eighth-ranked Maryland gets the final chance to contain senior Markus Howard in the Orlando Invitational when it takes on Marquette Sunday afternoon in the championship game at Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Howard, the nation’s leading scorer, has already broken the tournament record for total points with 91 after pouring in 51 in the 101-79 semifinal victory over USC on Friday and has drained 14-of-27 shots from 3-point range in the eight-team tournament.

“Once he gets going, it gets everybody else going,” Marquette sophomore guard Greg Elliott told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel of Howard, who averages 29.3 on the season. “Everybody knows that he’s our guy. But once we see him going, it helps get our confidence (going) and we know that they are going to do everything in their power to stop him. So that’s going to get us more open looks to get our games going as well.” The Golden Eagles will need another strong performance from Howard against unbeaten Maryland, which recorded seven-point wins over Temple in the first round and Harvard in Friday’s semifinals. Terrapins coach Mark Turgeon has not been pleased with the way his team started each game, trailing at halftime, but senior guard Anthony Cowan Jr. should present a challenge for Howard after scoring 50 points combined in the first two games of the tournament. “(Cowan) bailed us out - made incredible threes,” Turgeon told reporters after Friday’s win. “And when the game was on the line, our half-court execution was better.”

TV: 1 p.m. ET, ESPN

ABOUT MARYLAND (7-0): Cowan is 16-for-31 from the field and 7-for-13 from 3-point range with nine total assists in the tournament, raising his team-leading averages to 16.4 points and 4.6 assists. Sophomore forward Jalen Smith is second on the team in scoring (14.1) and leads the way in rebounds (9.4) while shooting 51.5 from the field and sophomore guard Eric Ayala (11.1 points) has scored 26 in the tournament. Sophomore guard Aaron Wiggins (10.1 points) scored 13 with nine rebounds against Harvard and junior guard Darryl Morsell registered his first career double-double (13 points, 12 boards).

ABOUT MARQUETTE (5-1): Howard is shooting a better percentage from 3-point range (49.1, 27-for-55) than overall (45.9) and the 5-11 guard has 14 assists this season to push his career total to 311. Junior guard Koby McEwen is the only other Golden Eagle averaging in double figures scoring (12.2) despite going 3-for-16 from the floor in the tournament; he leads the team in rebounds (5.5) along with assists (2.8). Senior guard Sacar Anim is averaging 9.0 points after scoring 19 combined in the tournament and Elliott came through to score a season-high 11 on 4-for-4 shooting versus USC on Friday.

TIP-INS

1. Cowan (469) needs one assist to move into eighth on the school’s all-time list and 10 points to reach 1,500.

2. Howard is the fourth player among major colleges to score at least 40 points on back-to-back days, joining Johnny Neumann (Ole Miss), Pete Maravich (LSU) and Bob Petit (LSU).

3. The Terrapins have won the season’s first seven games for the first time since 2016-17 when they lost the eighth.

PREDICTION: Maryland 78, Marquette 72