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Things are starting to heat up in the lower echelons of the Big Ten.
The conference’s four worst teams play in the first round of the Big Ten tournament. Penn State is all but guaranteed to finish in the cellar. Maryland men’s basketball is left fighting three teams — Northwestern, Oregon and Rutgers — for one bye.
All four teams have a 4-13 conference record with three games remaining in the regular season. That’s come following a surge by the Ducks and the Wildcats, both of whom have won two games on the trot. The Terps and the Scarlet Knights don’t have that momentum — that adds even more importance to an already crucial battle at the bottom.
Maryland hosts Rutgers on Sunday at noon. The game will be broadcast on Fox Sports One.
What happened last time
For fans of both teams, the first matchup between Maryland and Rutgers was one to forget as quickly as possible.
Maryland shooting 3-of-11 to start the game would have been enough to knock it out of most conference games — but Rutgers also began 3-of-11 from the field.
The East Coast representation of the Big Ten brought the requisite grit as the game turned into an absolute rock fight. Rutgers went on a 10-0 run early in the second half, and the Terps didn’t have enough power to fight back — they finished 33% from the field, 23% from deep, and 46% from the free throw stripe.
Andre Mills had just nine points, the only time in the last five games he’s had fewer than 19. Darius Adams finished with a team-high 13 points, while Diggy Coit added 12 points off of 19 shot attempts — he only made five, a solid contribution to Maryland’s inefficiency.
Rutgers guard Tariq Francis led all scorers with 21 points, but 12 of those came from the charity stripe. Harun Zrno was the Scarlet Knights’ best shooter on the day. He finished with 13 points on 5-of-12 shooting, including two timely 3-pointers that sparked Rutgers’ run to pull ahead.
What’s happened since
Not much, really, given the Feb. 15 meeting between these teams was two weeks ago.
The defeat against Rutgers snapped a two-game winning streak for the Terps, who looked like a completely different — and worse — team than one that had come out the week prior. The better side of the Maryland program has prevailed, though, as the Terps have played some of the best basketball of their season.
That has not consistently translated to results. Maryland’s 64-60 home win over Washington was the sort of gutsy team performance that inspires confidence in a program; it was sandwiched by losses against Northwestern and Nebraska that saw strong performances taper off and leave some feeling as though Maryland deserved better.
Rutgers’ victory over Maryland snapped a seven-game losing streak for the Scarlet Knights. Their next game came on the road against Penn State, and a 13-point victory left the team in a strong position to emerge from the cellar.
With Minnesota and Washington — the two teams sitting directly above the logjam — on the docket, Rutgers had the chance to pull away. But two losses in two games have kept the Scarlet Knights firmly in the mixer.
A win against Maryland would be an excellent start, and Rutgers’ last game of the season comes against Penn State again. The Scarlet Knights are the best-positioned team to take the bye of the four teams. They will need to execute on the opportunities, though, and that is hardly a given.
Three things to watch
1. Can Maryland win the boards? In the first matchup, it seemed that Maryland would have an advantage under the basket. The Terps played a far larger lineup, and that allowed them to haul in 18 offensive rebounds. But those only turned into 13 second-chance points, and Maryland only had three more total rebounds than Rutgers over the course of the game. Repeating its performance on the glass but being more clinical with its opportunities would be a boon for the Terps.
2. Solomon Washington’s consistency. Against Rutgers, Washington had 11 points, 14 rebounds and two steals. Against Northwestern, Washington had 11 points, 14 rebounds and two steals. Against Washington, the forward had — you guessed it — 11 points, 14 rebounds and two steals.
That meant his 13-point, seven-rebound, stealless performance against Nebraska was a bit of a disappointment. That game was Washington’s first time being shut off the offensive glass in 17 games — him returning to his normal self there should be a big help for the Terps.
3. Jersey time. Maryland basketball has touted its “Script Shift” jerseys for the past two weeks, and Sunday will be the first time the men’s team will get to put them to use.