Terps rise to 3rd in AP rankings

Thanksgiving weekend tournaments brought plenty of change to the college basketball landscape, with Maryland’s Orlando Invitational championship mixed with the sport’s other results sending the Terps up to No. 3 in the latest Associated Press poll.

The rankings, released Monday, have 8-0 Maryland as the highest-ranked team in the Big Ten, one spot ahead of No. 4 Michigan, which was unranked before beating two teams with top-10 rankings in the Battle 4 Atlantis. Louisville and Kansas, who were in front of the Terps’ in the previous poll, are the top two respective teams.

Of the rankings’ top five teams — a group that also includes Virginia — the Terps are the only one that did not receive any of the 65 first-place votes. Louisville garnered 48, with Michigan (nine), Virginia (five) and Kansas (three) securing the others. Maryland, which has the most all-time appearances in the poll without having been ranked first, appeared second on nine ballots, with a low vote of eighth.

After beating Temple, Harvard and Marquette in Orlando, Maryland returns to the Xfinity Center to face Notre Dame at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. The Fighting Irish received votes but are unranked. The Terps open Big Ten play at 5 p.m. Saturday against Illinois.

Cowan nets weekly honors

A guiding force in Maryland’s Orlando Invitational title, senior guard Anthony Cowan Jr. was named the NCAA Player of the Week and co-Big Ten Player of the Week on Monday.

Cowan, who shared his first career Big Ten weekly honor with Michigan’s Jon Teske, reached 20 points in each game of the tournament, including a career-high 30 in the opening round matchup with Temple.

In the three games, he averaged 24 points on 51% shooting, including 45% from 3-point range. He added 4.3 assists, 2.3 steals and three rebounds per game to earn Orlando Invitational MVP.