Maryland (11-3, 1-2) at #9 Oregon (12-2, 1-2)
When & Where: Jan. 5, 2025 | 1 PM PT (4 PM ET) | Matthew Knight Arena | Peacock
TV: Peacock | Terry Gannon (pxp) & Eldridge Recasner (analyst)
Radio: One Maryland App | 105.7 FM (Baltimore) | 980 AM (DC) | SiriusXM channel 391
Betting: Maryland +3.5 | O/U: 150 (DraftKings)
Maryland men’s basketball. head coach Kevin Willard and his squad will look to get back on track in game two of the West Coast swing in their second road game against a top-ten opponent this season, this time ninth-ranked Oregon.
Like Washington, this marks the first-ever meeting between the two teams while Willard is 0-2 all-time against Oregon.
Oregon entered the week as the highest-ranked team in the Big Ten, but that’s likely to change next week after the Ducks were blown at home against 22nd-ranked Illinois, 109-77, on Thursday night. The 109 points marked the most points Oregon has ever allowed at home and most in a regulation game since 1968.
“I’ve gotten my ass kicked plenty over the years, but we haven’t lost them like that here, I’m not sure ever,” Altman said postgame. “We were just stuck in the mud all night.”
It also marked the second home loss of the season for Oregon after falling vs. UCLA, 73-71, back on Dec. 8.
Portal guard Supreme Guard led the way with a season-high 20 points in the loss, shooting 8-for-11 from the field, but the three-headed trio of Nate Bittle, Jackson Shelstad and TJ Bamba have powered the Ducks through the 2024 slate.
Bittle enters Sunday averaging a team-high 13.2 points and is among the top rebounders in the conference, averaging 8.2 including six offensive per game.
Shelstad and Bamba, a Villanova transfer, both average just over ten points per game while shooting under 39% from the field so far. Brandon Angel, a Stanford transfer and one of four players to start all 14 games this season, is averaging just shy of double figures while Keeshawn Barthelemy enters Sunday 20 points shy of his 1,000-career point.
Sunday will also mark the first time that Derik Queen and Kwame Evans, a pair of Baltimore stars who shined together for Team Thrill, share the floor on the college level.
The Ducks are also allowing the third-most points (80.7) through the first three games of conference play, but Maryland will look to get back in the win column after a deflating 75-69 loss vs. Washington on Thursday night. Julian Reese led the way with 22 points on 75% shooting, while Selton Miguel and Rodney Rice combined for 22 points, but the Terps became a shell of the team fans grew used to watching inside Xfinity Center along with neutral site wins vs. Villanova and Syracuse. Against Washington, Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Derik Queen combined for five points and nine fouls in 35 minutes between the two as head coach Kevin Willard look to battle through foul trouble from his stars all game.
The Terps will look to climb back to .500 in Quad One games on Sunday and move to 3-5 all-time in West Coast games before hosting 22nd-ranked UCLA up on Friday, Jan. 10.
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