Terps rout Minnesota for 4th straight behind Reese, Young
MINNEAPOLIS — Julian Reese made eight of 10 shots from the field and finished with 16 points, Jahmir Young added 14 points on 6-for-9 shooting and Maryland men’s basketball beat Minnesota, 81-46, on Saturday night, handing the Golden Gophers’ their eighth consecutive loss.
The Terps have won four games in a row and five of their past six. All four wins have come by double digits, marking the first time they have won four conference games by 10-plus points since 2007 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Donta Scott had 13 points and Ian Martinez scored 11 for Maryland (16-7, 7-5 Big Ten), which matched its largest victory in a Big Ten conference game. It was the Terps’ largest road conference win since winning at Clemson, 81-41, on Dec. 4, 1953, their second-ever game in the ACC.
“I’m proud of these guys,” first-year coach Kevin Willard said. “We wanted to come out and play a solid 40 minutes. I thought we came out very focused in the first 10 minutes. I thought we got a little sloppy [in the first half ], but the way we ended the first half and the way we came out halftime was really impressive.”
Minnesota (7-14, 1-10) has lost nine of its past 10 games and has been outscored 252-162 in its past three combined. Dawson Garcia, the team’s leading scorer (14.9 per game) and rebounding leader (6.3), missed his fourth consecutive game (foot). Pharrel Payne led the Gophers with 14 points.
Reese hit a jumper to open the scoring and the Terps never trailed. Donald Carey hit a 3-pointer to spark a 10-2 spurt that made it 19-8 and Martinez hit 3-pointers 16 seconds apart in a 16-2 run that culminated when Scott made a 3-pointer to stretch the lead to 22 with 5:46 left before halftime.
Maryland shot 52% (33-for-63) from the
field and tied its season low with five turnovers. The Terps have won eight consecutive games in the series to lead 14-2 all time.
“We wanted to come out and really defend at a high level and offensively get the ball moving side to side,” Willard said.
“I thought we got a lot of good open looks early and the ball movement was really good.”
Jahari Long hit a 3-pointer to cap a 10-1 spurt and give the Terps their largest lead of the game at 78-36 with four minutes to play.
Jamison Battle, who had scored at least 20 points in back-to-back games for the Gophers, finished with five points on 2-for-9 shooting in 39 minutes.
Maryland scored 23 points off 16 Minnesota turnovers.