Maryland men’s basketball extended their win streak on Sunday afternoon in a 101-75 win vs. Iowa thanks to a dominant second half, moving to 20-6 (10-5).
Maryland saw a hula hoop for a basket to start off making their first seven shots collectively, with Selton Miguel leading the charge making his first three shots, all from long distance. The problem was Iowa wasn’t missing either, making five of their first eight shots, and a shootout in the first four and half minutes ensued, resulting in an 18-13 lead for the Terps heading into the first media timeout.
Turnovers were a problem early for Maryland with six turnovers in the first ten minutes. Combined with Iowa’s shot-making ability early, the Hawkeyes went on a quick 8-0 run to clip what was once a nine-point lead down to one, at 24-23.
Perhaps the most remarkable stat of the early shootout was the absence of Derik Queen, who did not take a shot until the 6:17 mark in the first half. Iowa continued to knock down shots to keep it close and run an impressive scheme throughout the first half. This led to another scoring run for the Hawkeyes to give them a three-point lead following a Seydou Traore three from the wing right in front of Kevin Willard who called an immediate timeout, now trailing 34-31.
Iowa played the best half of their entire season in the first half. Although both teams shot north of 56% from the field, the separator was the 11 forced turnovers and distribution of the basketball, leading to a 14-7 assist advantage. Their 23 points off of turnovers was the most glaring stat, compared to Maryland’s four points off turnovers. Traore had the best half of any player on the floor with a game-high 14 first half points on 6 of 9 shooting.
For Maryland, the first half offensive load was carried by Ja’Kobi Gillespie’s team-leading 13 points along with Miguel’s 12 and Juju Reese’s 10. Queen alarmingly was uninvolved, scoring four points making only one basket with the other points coming from the stripe. The turnovers were truly the X-factor in the first 20 minutes for Maryland, who turned the ball over on almost 30% of possessions.
The exciting, fast-paced, and offensive-heavy first half ended in a 51-47 lead for the Hawkeyes. To the surprise of many, however, the hot start for Iowa and the entire first half wasn’t a surprise to Willard.
“We talked as a staff this morning. We kind of knew they were going to score [on] us in the first half. If you haven't played against Fran’s teams, he's probably the best offensive coach, one of the best offensive coaches in the country. And we've been stuck on Thursday-Sunday, Thursday-Sunday, Thursday-Sunday. And we've traveled every Thursday. So we were gassed. I mean, I looked at – we practiced a little bit [Saturday]. We didn't get back from Nebraska until 5 AM so Friday was a wash, and then yesterday was kind of BS. So really, I just told them at halftime, like guys, we're only down four, we should be down 20. And I said, let's just get in our press, get in the zone, try to mix them up a little bit. And I actually felt really good the fact that we were only down four.”
The second half started, and the rice cooker was activated. Rodney Rice, by himself, opened the half with an 8-0 scoring run to give Maryland a 55-51 lead, forcing Iowa head coach Fran McCaffrey to call a timeout in the first two minutes of the half.
Queen finally settled in following Rice's one-man show, and quickly got into double-digits in the first six minutes of the second half. The snowball effect hit Gillespie who already was having a great game. Gillespie forced a turnover and converted on the other end, and then nailed a top-of-the-key three to follow. At the 13:59 mark, Maryland’s 21-4 run to open the half set the building on fire, and the score at 68-55.
The fantastic start to the second half turned into an absolute bloodbath, with the Hawkeyes being the victim. At the 7:35 mark in the second half, Maryland had outscored Iowa 39-11 and rode a 14-1 run into the media timeout.
Derik Queen hit a free throw to finish an and-1 opportunity with 6:52 left in the second half to extend Maryland’s lead to 91-64. The significance, you might ask? This tied Maryland’s in-conference season-high of 91 points scored in a blowout win versus Illinois.
To cap it off, Miguel hit a bank shot three, followed by a Geronimo slam and Gillespie layup. The score was now 101-70, and the final 1:51 could not have happened quicker for an Iowa team that was ready to get back to Iowa City more so than ever.
Maryland outscored Iowa 54-24 in the second half for a final of 101-75, and was one of the most incredible turnarounds in a basketball game I’ve ever witnessed. Their 101 points set a season-high for points in a conference game, and the most points ever scored by a Maryland team in conference play since they joined the Big Ten.
Once again, all five starters for Maryland finished in double-digits with each of the five finishing with 16 or more points, including Gillespie’s game-high of 26. Gillespie’s improvement throughout the season and comfort in Willard’s offense has been apparent to many.
“Ja’Kobi is one of the best guards in this league,” Willard said. “I think ever since the Washington game, for the most part, he's starting to really figure out when to push it, when not to. He's playing at a high level.”
The unit collectively scored 95 points, with the other six courtesy of Jordan Geronimo who had a nice showing off the bench for the Terps. Maryland’s starting lineup continues to prove why they are one of, if not the best, starting lineups in the entire country.
“I think they're all very comfortable with each other, and they all kind of know, I think they’re playing really well in the sandbox as I like to say. They kind of know when someone's going to shoot it. They don't get frustrated when someone shoots it. They know they're going to get their shots. They know they're going to get their touches. I think earlier in the year, when I was bringing guys in and out, we got antsy a little bit. I just think they all kind of know they're going to get theirs and I think it's just relaxed them a little bit.”
For Iowa, today was a day to forget. Traore, who had a game-high 14 first half points, failed to score in the second half. As a team, they went 0-13 from beyond the arc and 11-37 in total from the field in the last 20 minutes. For a team that came into today already banged up with injuries and played exceptionally in the first half, the evening ended in utter disappointment. They now fall to 0-5 against ranked teams and 1-6 on the road this season.
Maryland now turns the page and will prepare for a battle against new Big Ten foe, USC, on Thursday night right back at the Xfinity center. They now move to 15-1 at home, including 12 straight, and tied for fifth place in the Big Ten standings with a tiebreaker advantage over the UCLA Bruins. Iowa will refocus for a two-game homestretch against Oregon and Washington next week.
By: Oliver Schaack
Photo: Maryland Athletics
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