Bob Haynie: Maryland Survives Nebraska
Well, another game for the Maryland Terrapins and another game that went down to the wire. On Thursday night, the Terps and Nebraska Cornhuskers played a nail-biter at The XFINITY Center that wasn't decided until the final minute.
As usual, it was Mark Turgeon's crew that came out on top in the end. Superb freshman Melo Trimble pumped in 26 points and buried two crucial three-pointers late as Maryland held off Nebraska 69-65 in Big Ten play.
Trimble was 10-for-11 from the free throw line as the Terps improved to 22-5 overall and 10-4 in the Big Ten. Maryland is now an impressive 8-0 in games decided by six points or fewer. The disappointing Cornhuskers, who were ranked #21 in both preseason polls, dropped to 13-13 and 5-9 in the league.
Dez Wells and Jake Layman each scored 14 for a Maryland team that shot 46.5% from the field against a usually stingy Nebraska defense. The Terps did a good job on Terran Petteway. The Cornhuskers' leading scorer was held to eight points on 2-for-14 shooting.
Winning close games should help Maryland heading into March, you would think. But coming up on Tuesday night is a very tough game with Wisconsin (#5 AP, #4 USA Today).
The Badgers are in first place in the Big Ten and will create matchup problems for the Terps. The game is at The XFINITY Center where Maryland has only lost once and is unbeaten in conference play.
A litmus test game for a team that keeps finding a way to win the close ones.
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