NO. 3 BOILERMAKERS FALL AGAINST MARYLAND
Maryland’s Kevin Willard walked away from a Thursday morning film session with little doubt his team would upend No. 3 Purdue less than 12 hours later.
Then his Terrapins went out and proved the first-year coach prophetic, unleashing a dominant stretch in the middle of the second half to rally past the Boilermakers 68-54 and deal Purdue its second consecutive loss.
Students stormed the court — and one even climbed onto a basket — after Maryland earned its fourth victory of the season over a ranked team. Exactly 10 years earlier, fans rushed onto the same court after Maryland beat then-No. 2 Duke.
“I knew we were going to win,” Willard said. “This was not a surprise to me. This is an unbelievable program. It’s one of the best programs in the country. I thought it
Maryland 68 ,No.3 Purdue 54
was important for the fanbase and it was important for the students to just understand what this program is really all about.”
Jahmir Young scored 20 points for the Terps (18-8, 9-6 Big Ten), who trailed 37-29 before erupting on a 29-4 burst to take control. Hakim Hart added 13 points for Maryland, which defeated a top-three team for the first time since toppling then-No. 3 Iowa 74-68 on Jan. 28, 2016.
Maryland improved to 14-1 at home this season and continued its resurgence after going 15-17 last season, the program’s first losing season since 1992-93.
“Like coach said in the locker room, ‘Just think of where you were last year,’ ” said forward Julian Reese, who had 10 points and nine rebounds. “At this time last year, we had a bad record — I’m not exactly sure what it was — and (now) it’s (18-8) and we just beat a top-five team in the country. It’s definitely a confidence booster, but we have to keep working.”
Zach Edey and Braden Smith both scored 18 points for Purdue (23-4, 12-4), which has lost three of four — all on the road. The Boilermakers were outrebounded 35-23 by the smaller Terps. It was their largest deficit on the glass all season and only the third time they were beaten on the boards.
“We have to be tougher,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “... When you get on the road and you have fewer possessions and now you don’t shoot well, oh, that’s going to be a long night versus a quality team.”
No. 2 Houston 80, SMU 65: Marcus Sasser scored 20 points, freshman Jarace Walker added 14 and visiting Houston (24-2, 12-1 American Athletic Conference) cruised to a victory over
SMU (9-18, 4-10). With a win at home Sunday over Memphis, the Cougars could be in line for their third stay atop The Associated Press Top 25 poll this season after losses by No. 1 Alabama and thirdranked Purdue.
No. 4 UCLA 73, Stanford 64:
Trailing by four with 7:55 remaining, the host Bruins (22-4, 13-2 Pac-12) went on a 16-2 run over the next seven minutes to ensure the victory over the Cardinal (11-15, 5-9). Jaime Jacquez Jr. led the way with 26 points for UCLA.
No. 8 Arizona 88, Utah 62:
Kerr Kriisa scored 17 points and Courtney Ramey added 13 as host Arizona (22-4, 11-4 Pac-12) ran away and hid from Utah (17-9, 10-5) in the second half. Utah, which got 19 points from Branden Carlson, shot just 32.2 percent from the field
No. 13 Gonzaga at Loyola Marymount: Late
Middle Tennessee 74,
No. 25 Florida Atlantic 70: Camryn Weston scored 16 points, Elias King added 15 and host Middle Tennessee (16-11, 9-7 Conference USA) beat Florida Atlantic (24-3, 14-2) for its first win over a ranked opponent since 2016.
West
Colorado 67, Arizona State 69: Tristan da Silva scored 23 points, KJ Simpson added 12 and Colorado (15-12, 7-9 Pac-12) snapped a six-game road losing streak by surprising Arizona State (18-9, 9-7).
Santa Clara 81, BYU 74: Brandin Podziemski scored 26 points and had 12 rebounds as the visiting Broncos (20-8, 8-5 West Coast Conference) ran out to a big lead and held off the Cougars (16-13, 6-8) in the second half.
USC 97, Cal 60: Drew Peterson scored 30 points and Boogie Ellis added 22 as the host Trojans (17-8, 9-5 Pac-12) trounced the Bears (3-22, 2-12).