Listen Live: Maryland At Minnesota [Live Audio] College Basketball
Listen to the play-by-play of the Maryland Terrapins game against the Minnesota Golden Gophers on 105.7 The Fan, tip off at 8 p.m. at Williams Arena in Minneapolis, Minnesota (no streaming).
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Where: Williams Arena, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minnesota's chance of picking up its first Big Ten win of the season is looking like a long shot based on the competition on Thursday. The winless Golden Gophers play host to No. 5 Maryland, which is looking to bounce back after a loss over the weekend knocked it out of the top spot in the Big Ten.
Minnesota will play three of its final four games against teams in the bottom third of the conference standings and seems to be inching closer to its first victory after pushing No. 6 Iowa to the end in a 75-71 road loss on Sunday. Seven of the last eight losses have come by eight points or fewer, including each of the Golden Gophers' last four home games. That loss to the Hawkeyes did no favors for the Terrapins, who ended up a game behind Iowa for first place in the Big Ten when that was combined with their own loss to Wisconsin. The 70-57 loss snapped a five-game winning streak for Maryland and included an ugly moment in which freshman center Diamond Stone shoved an opponent's head into the floor.
ABOUT MARYLAND (22-4, 10-3 Big Ten): Stone earned himself a one-game suspension for the incident and will skip the trip to Minnesota. "I want to apologize to Vitto Brown and the Wisconsin basketball team for my unacceptable behavior during Saturday's game," Stone said in a statement. "I regret that I let the emotions of the game get the best of me. I let my team down, and I accept full responsibility for my actions." Stone is second on the team in scoring (12.8 points) and second in rebounding (5.4), and his absence should open up more minutes for reserve forwards Michal Cekovsky and Damonte Dodd.
ABOUT MINNESOTA (6-19, 0-13): The Gophers are looking for bright spots and the clearest among them is sophomore guard Nate Mason. The 6-1 Georgia native leads the team in scoring (13.7 points) and assists (4.5) and has boosted his scoring to 17.3 points over the last seven games to keep Minnesota in games late. Mason could use more help from forward Joey King, who went 2-of-12 from the field in Sunday's loss, including 1-of-8 from 3-point range, and is averaging 5.4 points in the last five games.
TIP-INS
1. Maryland star G Melo Trimble is 3-of-26 from the field in his last two Big Ten games.
2. Minnesota freshman G Dupree McBrayer recorded three of his four double-figure scoring outings in the last five games.
3. Trimble scored 20 points in a 70-58 win over the Golden Gophers in the lone meeting last season.
PREDICTION: Maryland 75, Minnesota 66