Minnesota @ Maryland preview
Xfinity Center
Last Meeting ( Jan 23, 2021 ) Maryland 63, Minnesota 49
Consecutive home wins over Nebraska and No. 24 Purdue have fortified Minnesota's NCAA Tournament resume.
Now the Golden Gophers try to avoid the kind of bad loss that can put them on the so-called "bubble" when they visit Big Ten foe Maryland on Sunday night.
Minnesota (13-7, 6-7 Big Ten) should know better than anyone else the dangers of overlooking the Terrapins (10-10, 4-9). When the teams played last month in Minneapolis, Maryland jumped out to a 36-27 halftime lead and never looked back in winning 63-49, one of its three victories over Top 25 teams.
A much better version of the Gophers took the floor Thursday in a 71-68 win over Purdue. They responded to adversity, trailing at halftime and rallying in the last couple of minutes. Marcus Carr banked in a top of the key 3 with 14 seconds left for the last of his team-high 19 points, giving them the lead for good.
"He made some big-time shots," said Minnesota coach Richard Pitino. "The one thing about Marcus and all of these guys, I want them to feel free to go make some plays."
Carr has been the team's top play-maker this year, averaging 19.9 points and 5.4 assists per game. Center Liam Robbins supplies 13.1 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game.
The Terrapins' season-long problem has been consistently generating offense, which arose again Monday night during a 73-65 home loss to No. 4 Ohio State. Maryland opened the second half by missing nine consecutive shots, letting a five-point deficit turn into a 14-point hole.
"We couldn't make a shot to start the second half," Terrapins coach Mark Turgeon said. "We go through some lulls. That's who we are."
Maryland averages only 69.5 points per game, which ranks in the bottom third of Division I, despite making a respectable 45.4 percent from the field and 34.7 percent on 3-pointers. Another problem is rebounding; they are also near the bottom of Division I with 33.5 per game.
Eric Ayala is the team's leading scorer at 14.3 ppg and might be due for a big game after hitting only 3 of 12 against Ohio State. Ayala canned three 3-pointers at Minnesota and scored a team-high 21 points.
The Golden Gophers are aiming for their first win in seven road games.
--Field Level Media