Maryland backdoors the barn to upset #17 Minnesota 63-49

Maryland appropriately wore all black tonight as they buried Minnesota’s undefeated home record six feet under Williams Arena this afternoon. Maryland’s lead pallbearer was Eric Ayala as he finished with twenty-one points for the Terrapins but the real story was the Maryland defense. The defense held the Golden Gophers to only two points in the first five minutes of play and under fifty points for the first time in three years at Williams Arena.  

While the Gophers tunneled themselves into an early deficit, the Turtles would out pace the Gophers on both ends of the floor. The win was the third win against a ranked road opponent for the first time in program history.

While Minnesota would see their first non-ranked opponent in a month of play, the Gophers hoped to find an easier test this afternoon. Nobody notified the Terps as they played some of their best basketball of season and found themselves with a double digit lead for the majority of the game and led from start to finish.  

Eric Ayala looked to be back at full health as he returned to the starting lineup. His shooting was locked in early, as he was able to get eight early points for Maryland. Despite the impressive victory, it wasn’t all crab cakes and apple pie as Maryland handed out more turnovers than grannies on a holiday. The team mishandled several open passes cutting towards the lane and struggled with timing of their passes throughout the game. Neither did well maintaining the basketball as there were more turnovers than field goals with less than seven minutes to go in the first half. Both teams would finish the game with eleven turnovers a piece.

Marcus Carr would eventually get started to help drive Minnesota into the Maryland lead and bring the Gophers back in the ballgame. Maryland would respond by using several backdoor cuts to score uncontested baskets and rebuild their lead. Over the next several possessions Marcus Carr and Eric Ayala would lead their teams in a back and forth battle. Both Minnesota and Maryland would look to their guards in the first half, and both Carr and Ayala would finish with fourteen points in the first half with Maryland up 36-27.

Both Mark Turgeon and Richard Pitino have felt their seats warm throughout the past few seasons but both coaches have shown great resolve by staying competitive in the highly competitive Big 10 this season. The Gophers have been the only team to find victory against Michigan this season and Maryland now has wins against Wisconsin, Illinois and Minnesota this season.

Both Turgeon and Pitino would need to make foul trouble decisions early in the second half as Galin Smith picked up his third personal with less than a minute to go in the first half and Pitino would need to make a decision on Liam Robbins when he picked up his third foul early in the second half. Pitino would take a chance by keeping the Big 10 leading shot blocker in the game. After his third block of the game, Donta Scott would penetrate on the long rebound and draw a fourth foul from the Minnesota big man.

Maryland would take advantage and tarnish the Golden Gophers defense from three. Tonight the Turtles would shoot a hair under 35% from three point range going 8-of-23 from distance. The Gophers on the other side would struggle and shoot only 5-of-23 from range.

The Gophers would chew into the lead and bury shots early in the second half to get within two possessions of their first lead of the game, but Maryland would call upon their hot-handed Ayala to snap back and regain a double-digit lead. 

The hustle of Donta Scott would force Minnesota into their seventh team foul with just under ten minutes to play to add another variable for Pitino to calculate in the Gophers comeback attempt. Maryland would take advantage and find success by milking minutes with Robbins on the bench and extra efforts from the tenacious Terrapin defense.

Minnesota could not hit the broad side in the barn over the next several possessions and the #17 ranked Gophers who normally thrive in the lively Williams arena would start to give off the smell of desperation in the barn. This would force Pitino to bring in Robbins down twelve with under eight minutes to play.

Despite Carr and Robbins best efforts to row the boat, Maryland would not allow the Gophers to find consistent direction and the Gophers hopes would eventually sink as the final buzzer sounded with Maryland winning by double digits.

Maryland’s three ranked victories helps continue to build their tournament resume for the 9-7 Terrapins and they will have another opportunity to pick up a ranked win against #10 Wisconsin this Wednesday. This game was moved from its original Saturday schedule and will be played at 9:00 pm at the Xfinity Center.