Maryland men’s basketball defeated Indiana 79-78, on Jan. 26 for its second consecutive conference road victory.
Maryland (16-5 overall, 6-4 Big Ten) improved its road record to 2-4 with the win. The Terps are now on a three-game winning streak heading into a matchup with Wisconsin on Jan. 29 at 7 p.m. at Xfinity Center.
The Terps escaped Bloomington with a win in the waning moments behind sophomore guard Rodney Rice’s fifth 3-pointer of the game, which gave the Terps a 79-78 lead. Rice finished with a career-high 23 points.
“I decided to go for the win,” head coach Kevin Willard said. “Being on the road and not subbing [much throughout the game] and having those guys out there, I was like, ‘Overtime is probably not going to be our friend.'”
Maryland opened up its largest lead of the game with less than 10 minutes to go in regulation courtesy of a Rice 3-pointer that put the Terps ahead, 63-53. Maryland seemed to be in the driver’s seat, but Indiana had other plans.
The Hoosiers answered with a 10-1 run to climb within one point before 3-pointers by junior guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Rice pushed the Terps’ lead back to 70-65. Then, Indiana went on a 10-0 run to capture a 75-70 lead. All in all, the Hoosiers went on a 22-7 run, making 12 of 14 shots to send the home crowd into a frenzy.
Little did Indiana fans know that Maryland was down but not out.
The last two minutes provided a thrilling finish to the Big Ten showdown. The Terps responded with four quick points to trim the lead to 75-74 after the Hoosiers’ run.
Indiana increased its lead to 78-74 after converting an and-one but failed to seal the game. With the Hoosiers ahead, 78-76, Indiana guard Trey Galloway was sent to the line with a chance to potentially ice the game but missed the front end of a one-and-one.
That gave Maryland a chance to tie the game or send everyone home. Rice chose the latter.
“I think ‘Kobi realized how open he was and he thought, ‘I’m just going to lay it up and tie it.’ They got a good deflection,” Willard said. “Julian [Reese] showed how much he’s come as a player. He didn’t try to shoot it. He just got the basketball, took one dribble and just gave it and obviously Rod hit a huge shot.”
Now, the Terps look to build on the victory against the Badgers.
“We’ve got a really good Wisconsin team coming in on only two days [of preparation], so we’ve got to get back,” Willard said. “Put the game plan in [on Monday], hopefully practice a little bit on Tuesday and play a really tough Wisconsin team.”
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Maryland Athletics