Victory could serve as catapult
Win over Purdue may get Terps on track
From the impact of another marquee victory to breaking the streak of home losses in conference play, here are three takeaways from the Maryland men’s basketball team’s 61-60 win over No. 24 Purdue on Tuesday night.
Maryland’s win could set the tone for the stretch run.
As he stared down a sixth consecutive game against a ranked opponent, Mark Turgeon’s coachspeak masked the importance of this singular game.
“We can’t think about March. We’re too inconsistent,” Turgeon said about 24 hours before the
Terps faced the Boilermakers, who had vaulted into Associated Press Top 25 poll after winning five of their past six games.
“We’re going to take it one game at a time and we’re going to do the best in that game. We’re just going to lock in on Purdue and then hopefully come out with
a victory. And then lock into the next practice and the next game.”
It’s a fair approach for a team that has yet to win two straight games in Big Ten play. But when you get so close to Selection Sunday and have as much work as
Maryland does to state its case for an NCAA tournament bid, all games are not necessarily created equal.
So when the Terps pulled out the one-point victory, their fourth win against a ranked opponent this season, Turgeon revealed that he told his staff before the game, “‘Guys, we have to get this one if we’re going to do anything,’ ” referring to the team’s postseason aspirations.
Only five schools in the country have more Quad 1 wins than Maryland, and the Terps have played the most games that fall under the Quad 1 distinction, another example of how daunting the first-half conference schedule was. An uber-competitive league will certainly allow the Terps the opportunity to collect additional impressive wins before Selection Sunday — one game remains on the schedule against a ranked opponent (Ohio State) and two more versus teams that received votes in the AP poll (Minnesota, Rutgers) — but Tuesday night’s win over the Boilermakers was a step in the right direction.
“It’s a big win. A lot of our guys were emotional because we knew we could get it and everyone believed it,” junior guard Aaron Wiggins said.
Eric Ayala and Aaron Wiggins played like the leaders Maryland needs.
Ayala and Wiggins combined for 34 points, including 25 in the second half, as they sparked a Maryland offense that made just one of 12 3-point attempts in the first half.
Consecutive 3-pointers by the juniors, who both played the entire second half, started a stretch of five of seven made 3’s as the Terps pulled off the upset victory. It’s the most points the two have combined to score since Maryland clinched a share of the Big Ten regular-season title in the 2019 finale and a sign of growth for two players who have been asked to contribute from the moment they arrived in College Park.
On a night when sophomore Donta Scott (seven points) failed to reach double figures for just the fourth time this season, Maryland needed every bit of Ayala’s and Wiggins’ efforts. It was a bounce-back game for Ayala, who had a season-low four points in the team’s loss to Wisconsin last week and lacked the requisite defensive attentiveness, by his and Turgeon’s account. For Wiggins, it’s the continuation of what has been a promising stretch for him and his all-around play. He recorded his second double double of the season (18 points, 11 rebounds), a feat that he reached just once in his first two seasons.
“It’s just a matter of me staying confident, getting good looks,” Wiggins said. “Coach ran a couple really good plays for me to get good looks and we executed them really well. … When we execute plays and I’m getting good looks, I’m confident I’m going to make a shot.”
The Terps finally getting a home conference win is a bit overstated.
Given Maryland’s success at Xfinity Center over the years, it was undoubtedly puzzling to see them enter February without a home win in conference play. And with three ranked wins on the road entering Tuesday’s game, Turgeon and his players surprisingly had to answer questions about their struggles within Xfinity Center instead of away from it. Entering the 2020 season, the Terps were 46-7 at home in the past three years, the most wins of any Big Ten team.
Maryland had lost all four of its home conference games before Tuesday but each one has come against a ranked opponent. One of the subplots of playing team sports during the coronavirus pandemic has been how home-field advantage has generally been a nonfactor. In the absence of fan attendance, bench energy has been a focal point for Maryland, and ever since Turgeon called out his team after their December loss to Rutgers, it has been much improved. But there’s no substitute for close to 20,000 raucous fans. Last week, Wisconsin coach Greg Ward said playing in an empty Xfinity Center had an eerie feel to it.
When the selection committee convenes to form the 68-team field, it will be interesting to see how much value it places on quality road wins, given the majority of programs are playing in arenas will little to no spectators.