MIKE BURKE
Allegany Communications Sports
As Maryland head basketball coach Kevin Willard noted about 10 days ago, the Terps were forced to navigate a brutal January schedule filled with nationally-ranked opponents, inconsistent starting times and coast-to-coast travel.
As Maryland athletic director Damon Evans publicly noted the following day, every team in the Big Ten must navigate a brutal January schedule filled with nationally-ranked opponents, inconsistent starting times and coast-to-coast travel – toughen up, buttercup. Welcome to the Big Ten. And, oh, by the way, it would be nice if this team finally won a road game or two.
Buttercup got the message, as since that exchange, Maryland has won at nationally-ranked Illinois, at Indiana and at home over nationally-ranked Wisconsin to build a four-game winning streak and finish its brutal January 6-3 with three wins over nationally-ranked opponents.
Thus, as the Terps ease into a week off from play, they have won six of the last seven and sit at 17-5 and in sole possession of fourth place in the Big Ten with a 7-4 record. Maryland is the hottest team in the conference other than first-place Michigan State, which has won 13 in a row.
Wednesday night’s 76-68 win over No. 17 Wisconsin was not aesthetically pleasing, but it ended up being a thing of beauty for the loud Xfinity Center sellout crowd (it’s great to have the students back and so plugged in), as the Terps offense played to the Badgers’ style and was choppy through the first half and halfway through the second.
Yet Maryland’s ball pressure was effective, which is a handy thing to have when nothing is working offensively, as the Terps held the top-shooting team in the Big Ten to 3-for-11 on 3’s in the second half.
Midway through the second half, sophomore DeShawn Harris-Smith, who has struggled offensively and who had just missed a layup, nailed a wide-open 3 to spark a 9-0 run and give Maryland a lead it would not relinquish.
Harris-Smith’s shot snapped the Terps to attention as they went on to shoot 7-for-11 on 3-pointers in the second half, and finish the game at 50%.
Point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie and freshman center Derik Queen combined for just 26% percent from the field, but the Terps found different ways and different guys – Rodney Rice, Selton Miguel and Harris-Smith – to overcome that and win the game, as five Maryland players scored in double figures, led by Rice and Gillespie with 16 apiece.
Early in the month, this is not a game the Terps would have won. The losses at Washington and at Northwestern were should’ve/could’ve, but they didn’t. Since that time, however, after gutting out an ugly home win over Nebraska, the Terps used their inside muscle to beat Illinois, their outstanding guard play to beat Indiana and outstanding minutes from their bench to beat Wisconsin.
Queen seems to have hit a bit of a wall offensively, so, perhaps, the week off will do him good, as it might Gillespie, who was nursing a sore left knee while on the bench Wednesday night. Yet Rice has begun to hit his stride and Miguel has been electric and, along with Gillespie, give Maryland one of the best backcourts in the country.
And what can you say about senior Julian Reese? Even on challenging nights offensively, he remains the rock of this team with his influence on offense and his play on defense. And his work at the free-throw line? The hitch from his shot is magically gone and he has smoothly hit 74% of his free throws this season.
All of the tumblers are falling into place for Reese, as he was named last week’s Naismith National Player of the Week. His game is sound, even when he doesn’t score a lot, and his leadership, particularly with Queen, might be the key to this team winning games it would not have won until the last two weeks.
Again, the Washington game was a game Maryland just gave away; the Northwestern game was lost with missed opportunities, which is what you might have expected given the overall newness of this group of players.
Yet something has suddenly clicked, something has changed everything for this Maryland team, which suddenly has a very high ceiling from this point on and will most assuredly be ranked in next week’s top 25.
Maybe it’s not such a great time for a week off after all …
Mike Burke writes about sports and other stuff for Allegany Communications. He began covering sports for the Prince George’s Sentinel in 1981 and joined the Cumberland Times-News sports staff in 1984, serving as sports editor for over 30 years. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on X @MikeBurkeMDT