Maryland men’s basketball defeated Wisconsin, 76-68, on Jan. 29.
Maryland (17-5, 7-4 Big Ten) ran its winning streak to four after returning home from a two-game road trip. The Terps are now 13-1 at home, making Xfinity Center one of the toughest places to play in the country. Plus, students were back on campus for the Wisconsin game.
“The crowd was great because it gave us an emotional lift coming off the Indiana win and really, the two road wins,” head coach Kevin Willard said. “We’ve been on the road in January for 15, 16 days. So to come home to a great crowd and play against a really good team and play well was good.”
Maryland opened the game sluggishly, leaving the returning students anxious. The Terps fell behind after beginning the game 3 of 10 from the floor. However, even with Maryland’s slow start, the Terps were only down 12-7 at the first media timeout.
Still, Wisconsin controlled the game for much of the first 20 minutes and even held Maryland scoreless for two minutes en route to its largest lead of the half — 23-16 with less than seven minutes remaining in the half. But just two minutes later the momentum would shift.
Maryland went on a 10-3 run highlighted by junior forward Tafara Gapare, who knocked down a three to cut the Badgers’ lead to 26-23 and then immediately drew a charge on the ensuing defensive possession.
“Tafara has been great all year,” Willard said. “He’s spaces the floor, he’s able to shoot the basketball and defensively we’re able to switch with him.”
Fifth-year guard Selton Miguel and sophomore guard Rodney Rice hit back-to-back threes to give the Terps a 31-29 lead. Maryland finished the half ahead, 32-31, but it was Wisconsin that grabbed the momentum to begin the second half.
The Badgers went on a 9-0 run early in the second half to take a 42-36 lead, but just like the first half, the Terps used a barrage of 3-pointers to take the lead.
Sophomore guard Deshawn Harris-Smith, junior guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Rice hit three consecutive crowd-rocking 3-pointers as part of an 11-0 run to take a 54-48 lead. Rice (3 of 6 from three) hit another 3-pointer to make it a 14-2 run and a 57-50 lead.
Maryland finished the game 12 of 24 from deep (7 of 11 in the second half). Though Wisconsin responded with a quick six-point burst to cut the deficit to 57-56, the Terps responded with a five-point run to keep the Badgers at bay.
“We got a lot of good looks in the first half, but I think we were a little either amped up or not amped up enough,” Willard said.
“We’ve had our rhythm for a couple of games now,” Rice said. “We’re just trying to keep that momentum going into the next game.”
Willard said his team’s defense improved in the second half as well.
“We only had two guys that have played against that offense,” Willard said. “It takes a while to kind of figure out how to cheat it and where to go. And I thought the first half we looked like a team that’s never played against a Wisconsin team. And I think in the second half we really figured out what we were doing with our switches, what we were doing with our pick-and-rolls, and I thought we were just much more settled in with how to play against that offense.”
The Terps continued to throw haymakers. Gillespie knocked down another three, freshman big man Derik Queen finished a tough layup and then Queen followed it up with a block. The Terps had a 69-58 lead with less than three minutes remaining.
Maryland will have a week’s rest before traveling to Columbus to face Ohio State in a return matchup on Feb 6.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Maryland Athletics