Terps Recap: Minnesota 68, Maryland 63
For Minnesota, it was a long time coming. For Maryland, it was a long week.
Guard Nate Mason led the way with 18 points for the Gophers, who got their first Big Ten win of the season, and their first win of 2016, upsetting sixth-ranked Maryland 68-63 Thursday night.
Gophers forward Jordan Murphy added 17 points, hitting seven of eight foul shots, and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds.
Minnesota (7-19, 1-13 Big Ten) led by as many as 12 points in the second half, then had to rally in the final three minutes.
"It was sheer enthusiasm and excitement," Minnesota coach Richard Pitino said, after students stormed the court at the final horn. "We were a complete team in that locker room and in that game tonight."
It was the second loss in a row for Maryland (22-5, 10-4), which got a season-high 28 points from guard Rasheed Sulaimon but could not hold a late lead.
"I've got to figure out a way to get us going again," Maryland coach Mark Turgeon said. "We're not ourselves."
Forward Jake Layman added 11 for the Terrapins, and guard Melo Trimble had 10.
Trailing by 11 at the break, the Terrapins started slowly in the second half, turning the ball over five times in a span of just over five minutes. Minnesota built a 48-36 lead, working the clock on most possessions.
However, Sulaimon keyed Maryland's resurgence, scoring nine of 10 points for his team during one second half stretch and hitting a 3-pointer to give the Terrapins a 60-59 lead with three minutes to play. Minnesota, which went 1-for-13 from the field late in the second half, hit nine free throws from that point on to find a way.
"What was so great was when they took the lead, we weren't rattled at all," said Gophers forward Joey King, who came off the bench to score 15. "We were able to step up to the free throw line and knock down our free throws."
Minnesota, which had not won a game since Dec. 16, led 40-29 at halftime on the strength of 11 points from Mason, and hot shooting from long range. The Gophers hit seven of 13 3-pointers in the first half, and frustrated Maryland inside in the opening 20 minutes. The Terrapins were led by 11 points from Sulaimon.
"To be honest, I'm not worried about the rankings," said Sulaimon, after his team lost two in a row for the first time this season. "They can rank us, they can unrank us. I keep saying the same thing, over and over throughout the season: We're focusing on us. We have a bad stretch right now, this is the first real adversity that we've had. Every team goes through it. It's ebbs and flows in the season, we just got to figure it out."
Maryland was playing without freshman center Diamond Stone, who has averaged nearly 13 points per game in his first collegiate season. Stone was suspended by the school for one game after an altercation in the Terrapins' 70-57 home loss to Wisconsin in Sunday in which Stone slammed an opponent's head into the floor.
NOTES: Minnesota was playing its first game without senior G Carlos Morris. The team co-captain was dismissed by Gophers coach Richard Pitino on Wednesday for conduct detrimental to the team. Morris was averaging better than 25 minutes per game this season, but played sparingly in Minnesota's loss at Iowa on Sunday. ... While this was the Terrapins' first Big Ten game at Williams Arena, Maryland had played a game in Minneapolis in the 2008 NIT, beating Minnesota 68-58 on March 18 of that year. ... The Gophers are off until Tuesday, when they welcome Rutgers for the Scarlet Knights' first Big Ten game in Minneapolis. Maryland is home for a Sunday afternoon game with Michigan.
