Maryland men’s basketball advances to Big Ten quarterfinals with 70-54 victory over Minnesota

After Minnesota mounted a comeback to cut Maryland’s lead to single digits midway through the second half, the Terps looked to someone for a quick bucket.

Receiving a pass out of the post from Donta Scott, Jahmir Young darted towards the rim before suddenly planting his feet and flipping up a shot with his left hand. Young finished the layup through contact, replenishing Maryland’s lead.

No. 6-seed Maryland men’s basketball defeated No. 14-seed Minnesota, 70-54, in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament at the United Center. 

The Terps defeated the Golden Gophers for the third time this season. Four Terps reached double figures and Maryland’s defense forced 15 turnovers. Maryland ran into foul trouble throughout, but remained aggressive and moved on to the quarterfinals. 

Scott tallied 20 points and eight rebounds. Despite struggling with a combined 10 points in his last two regular season games, he exploded in the first half and toughed it out in the second nursing a knee injury. 

“My teammates really found me early on and they all have faith in my shot just like coach has faith in my shot,” Scott said. “Even though it hasn’t been falling lately, they told me keep shooting and I feel like I got hot early on.”

Freshman forward Pharrel Payne finished with 17 and remained perfect from the field and charity stripe for Minnesota. He also grabbed nine rebounds, leading the Golden Gophers in both categories.

Maryland opened up the game in the first four minutes with an 8-0 run but Minnesota quickly responded with an 8-0 run of its own. 

The Terps were aggressive with their full court press, forcing two 10-second calls before the halfway mark of the first half. But Maryland had turned the ball over the same amount of times as Minnesota up to that point with four. 

Both teams were amid a defensive battle with each team undergoing several minute scoring droughts. Minnesota attacked the bigs of Maryland, and with just under seven minutes remaining, graduate student forward Patrick Emilien picked up his third foul while sophomore forward Julian Reese sat on the bench with two fouls. 

“I have a lot of confidence in Julian playing with two fouls,” coach Kevin Willard said. “Even if he would’ve got his third I might even stay with him because again, he’s a very smart basketball player. He understands how not to foul at times.”

Two minutes later, Scott knocked down his fourth three, forcing coach Ben Johnson to call a timeout. Scott and the Terps briefly opened up the game 30-19, however their struggles with fouls allowed the Golden Gophers back in the game. 

Thrusted onto the floor with Emilien and Reese in foul trouble, freshman center Caelum Swanton-Rodger picked up three fouls in just three minutes. The three big men combined for eight fouls. 

Still, Maryland headed to the locker room with a 31-24 lead. 

Scott stepped up and led all scorers by a large margin with 16 points. Second team All-Big Ten nominee, Young, was 0-6 from the floor with just one point.  

Sophomore forward Dawson Garcia couldn’t capitalize on Maryland’s weakness down low. The same could be said for the rest of Minnesota’s lineup as the Terps defense forced eight turnovers and five steals. 

“We pride ourselves on defense,” Scott said. “It’s all about defense, defense wins games. And we really get after each other when we have practice and we take that mindset into the game. We know once we lock once we lock in defense, there’s not really much you can do.”

Graduate student guard Don Carey came out of the locker room hot and drilled two threes in the first three minutes. His second three gave the Terps a commanding 15-point advantage. 

With Maryland’s bigs still in foul trouble, freshman Payne remained aggressive attacking the paint. Four minutes into the second he reached double figures while remaining perfect from the field.

Minnesota dealt with its own foul troubles. Freshman forwards Joshua Ola-Joseph and Jaden Henley, along with Garcia each had four fouls with 14 minutes left in the game. 

With 10 minutes remaining, Payne backed down Reese and finished a contested layup to cut the lead to nine. But Maryland quickly replenished its lead as senior guard Hakim Hart converted an and-one to lead 54-41. 

Minnesota kept clawing its way back, receiving back-to-back threes from freshman guard Braeden Carrington. But everytime Minnesota was primed to mount a comeback, Maryland responded on the offensive end. 

“We cut into the lead a couple of times but didn’t have enough to capitalize to really get it to a one or two possession game,” Johnson said. “I thought [Maryland’s defense] did a good job and had a ton of energy and juice and fight.”

Maryland advances, and will now play No. 3-seed Indiana Friday at 9 p.m. in the quarterfinals.