It took a bit of game time for Maryland men’s basketball to shake off the rust from their nine-day hiatus, but head coach Kevin Willard watched his team overcome the brief slow start en route to an ultimately dominant 111-57 win vs. Saint Francis.
The 111 points marked the most in a game since scoring 111 vs. FDU back on Nov. 18, 2005, while it marked the fifth win this season by 30 or more points.
Selton Miguel nearly set a new career high with 24 points, while he set a new season-high with 17 points in the first half. Miguel also became the fifth different Terp to score 20 or more points in a game this season, the most since 2015-16. Meanwhile, Julian Reese recorded his fourth double-double of the season with 11 points and 12 rebounds as Maryland ultimately eclipsed 100 points for the second time in non-conference play.
Maryland also finished with 15 made threes, the second-most in program history and the most in a game since hitting 14 against Alcorn State on Dec. 12, 2023, hitting ten or more threes in four of the last five games.
Maryland also forced 11 turnovers in the win as the Terps have forced at least ten in all but two games this season.
Saint Francis would open the scoring and stay ahead of Maryland through the opening minutes as the two teams traded five lead changes in the first ten minutes. Facing a 13-10 deficit seven minutes in, a layup from Reese, triple from Jay Young then runner from Ja’Kobi Gillespie would appear to be the run that would give the Terps control before Saint Francis answered right back with a deep three. The Red Flash would hit a three on the ensuing possession coming out of the U-12 media timeout before an and-one opportunity against DeShawn Harris-Smith extended the early deficit to 21-17.
That would mark the end of Saint Francis’ run, though, as Maryland ended the half on a 38-8 run over the final 10:32, taking a 55-29 lead into halftime.
Miguel was a big catalyst in the eventual dominant effort after knocking down three of his first four threes while the veteran guard bullied his way in the paint all night, letting the three-point shooting settle as Rodney Rice, Gillespie and Tafara Gapare joined Miguel from deep.
Maryland would stretch its lead to as many as 54 points in the second half as five players ultimately finished in double figures while Willard began turning to the walk-ons to close out the final four minutes of the game.
Maryland closed the game out on a 16-0 run with Tafara Gapare’s high-flying alley-oop cementing the win in the final minutes.
Maryland will travel to Brooklyn to face Syracuse at the Barclays Center on Sunday with tipoff at noon.
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