Preview: No. 16 Maryland men’s basketball set for Saturday matinee at Penn State, look to bounce back from Wednesday heartbreaker

Photo courtesy of University of Maryland Athletics

Wednesday night in College Park saw Maryland men’s basketball (21-7, 11-6 Big Ten) lose one of its most anticipated matchups in recent memory in improbable fashion. A buzzer-beating halfcourt heave from Michigan State junior Tre Holloman gave the Spartans (23-5, 14-3) the 58-55 win in front of a sold-out Xfinity Center crowd.

The shot sent waves of disbelief throughout the Maryland fanbase and propelled Michigan State into first place in the Big Ten standings.

After such an emotional night, the Terps turn their attention to Penn State (15-14, 5-13) Saturday at noon at Bryce Jordan Center. The Nittany Lions are near polar opposites from the Spartans, currently sitting second-to-last in the conference. A loss to Maryland would eliminate the Lions from Big Ten Tournament eligibility.

“We gotta get ready for Penn State and get back on the road. That’s life in conference play,” head coach Kevin Willard said after Wednesday’s game. “You don’t really have that much time to really feel sorry for yourselves.”

Maryland’s offense, led by the ‘Crab Five’ of Ja’Kobi Gillespie, Rodney Rice, Selton Miguel, Julian Reese and Derik Queen, logged its lowest point total of the season in the loss. Reese and Queen, who each had double-doubles in the previous three contests, were a forgettable 4-for-18 combined from the field. Queen still managed 10 and 10 for his fifth straight.

Gillespie made zero threes for the third time this season, converting a perfect 11-of-11 free throws en route to 15. Still, his sixth and final miss from deep was particularly hard to swallow for Maryland fans, as the three seconds remaining after the ball hit the rim proved to be enough for Holloman to play hero.

Rice was the lone bright spot, dropping 15 of his 20 in the second half to help the Terps climb back into the game. Maryland lost the bench points battle 23-0.

“We just gotta stick together, stick to the gameplan, keep practicing hard and get better,” Rice said.

The Terps are 8-2 in their last 10 compared to the Nittany Lions’ 2-8.

Like Maryland, Penn State has five players averaging 10 points or more. Fifth-year guard Ace Baldwin Jr. has maintained his numbers from last season, when he won Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. The Baltimore native and high school teammate of Reese averages 14.0 points, 7.2 assists and 2.4 steals per game to lead the Nittany Lions.

Swiss junior Yanic Konan Niederhauser has also been an army knife for Penn State, averaging 13 points behind 61.6% shooting with more than six rebounds and two blocks in his first season at State College after two at Northern Illinois.

Sunday will be another tough test for the Terps, who are 3-5 in road games this season. All three wins are from within the last four, but the Nittany Lions will be the first team facing postseason elimination against Maryland all season.

The Terrapins lead the all-time series 17-15, winning the first-ever matchup in 1960. The teams met routinely throughout the ’60s as well as from the late ’70s to early ’80s, before playing just twice between 1983 and the Terps’ inaugural Big Ten season in 2015. The schools have matched up at least once each year since.

Sunday’s tipoff is set for noon on Big Ten Network.