For the third consecutive week, Maryland women’s basketball remained unchanged in the updated AP poll.
Head coach Brenda Frese’s squad drew 608 points to remain ranked eighth nationally, one day after Maryland moved to 14-0 (4-0) after a 74-66 win at Iowa on Sunday evening. UConn, who defeated Providence 87-84 on Sunday, drew just three more points than Maryland. The Terps will likely have a chance to climb next week’s rankings as they look to move to 5-0 against ranked opponents this season when they host fourth-ranked USC on Wednesday for an 8:30 PM tip. The slate won’t get any easier as Maryland will also face fifth-ranked Texas in the Coretta Scott King Classic on Jan. 20 before traveling to Columbus to face tenth-ranked Ohio State three days later.
“What a fun game,” head coach Brenda Frese said after Sunday’s win. “Just really impressed with this group's poise and composure withstanding Iowa's run to get a really great road win in a really tough environment. It was a tough stretch for us, and we're just trying to stack days with all these conference games that we have in a row. But I thought this group just found different ways to win.”
As for Maryland men’s basketball, head coach Kevin Willard and his squad dropped nine spots after drawing just seven votes on Monday to unofficially check in at 35th nationally. Maryland was picked as high as 20th by Bret Bloomquist, though 57 voters omitted the Terps from their top 25 ballot. After sitting just outside the AP top 25 over the last two weeks and checking in at 26th in the AP Poll, Maryland squandered both chances at a chance to move up in the rankings after losing both games in its West Coast swing against Washington and Oregon.
Maryland battled through the first half against Washington to take a three-point lead into halftime before the Huskies took over the final five minutes of the game as Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Derik Queen battled foul trouble all night. The Terps appeared poised to turn the corner in Sunday’s contest against Oregon after growing the lead to as many as 13, but the Ducks’ outside shooting picked up through the second half as the Terps’ puzzling miscues over the final five minutes cemented a second consecutive loss.
“We have to come up with rebounds late in the games. It’s two games in a row, especially on the road. You’re not going to get a foul call. You’re not going to get a push in the back. We’ve got to come up – we got them to take two bad shots and you have to give them credit. They got two huge offensive rebounds. That was really the difference in the game,” Willard said after Sunday’s loss.
Willard and the men’s team will look to bounce back on Friday, Jan. 10 against UCLA, who dropped to 22nd after suffering a 76-68 loss vs. Nebraska.
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