Maryland men’s basketball returns to action on Monday evening as they look to build their first winning streak in conference play, and they’ll do so as comfortable favorites back inside the Xfinity Center.
Maryland opened as a 14.5-point favorite vs. Minnesota, per FanDuel, with the over/under set at 135.5. Monday marks the lone matchup between the two teams this season while the Terps will look to get back in the win column in the all-time series against the Gophers. Minnesota won the last matchup, 65-62, to snap Maryland’s ten-game win streak against the Gophers. Maryland last lost against Minnesota at home back on Feb. 22, 2017 and lead the all-time series, 16-3.
While Minnesota is looking to stay above .500 in search of their first Big Ten win of the season, Maryland is looking to get back to .500 in conference play with a pivotal stretch of games over the next two weeks.
After squandering an encouraging effort on the road at Mackey Arena, Maryland saw its momentum fall apart during its West Coast swing in losses against Washington and Oregon, making Friday’s game against 22nd-ranked UCLA all more important. The Terps rode a dominant second half, thanks to a career-high 27 points from Ja’Kobi Gillespie, to get back in the win column and once again, Kevin Willard’s team has a chance to rebuild momentum starting Monday.
Maryland will travel to Northwestern on Thursday, Jan. 16 before returning home to host Nebraska three days later as KenPom predicts the Terps to pull out single-digit wins in both contests. Then the Terps will get a chance to reassert themselves on the road when they travel to Champaign to face 13th-ranked Illinois on Jan. 23, marking the second road game against a top-25 team in January. But after picking up their first win of the calendar year on Friday, head coach Kevin Willard will look for his squad to continue that play at home to begin the week.
“Obviously it's huge. I mean, you saw us out there,” Willard said after the win vs. UCLA. “I thought we played well at spurts out there. And, you know, it was good to come home and just have a couple days and obviously have a great home crowd. I mean it's our first conference game at home since December 2. So when you have that big of a load and you have three in a row, technically on the road, and you play well in the road, but you don't win, it's good to come home and get a [win].”
Monday’s tipoff is set for 6:30 PM on Big Ten Network.
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