Just three days removed from a victory over a top-10 team on the road, Maryland (6-3, 1-2 Big Ten) will close out 2020 by hosting No. 16 Michigan (7-0, 2-0) in College Park on New Year’s Eve.
The Wolverines are unbeaten so far this season and are led by a quartet of double-digit scorers: Isaiah Livers (15.4 ppg), Hunter Dickinson (15.3), Franz Wagner (11.0), and Chaundee Brown (10.0). Michigan will also have the benefit of having had a couple of more days between games than the Terps.
Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon knows his team has another big hurdle ahead of itself, but he’s hoping to see the same energy and effort the Terps have played with recently and believes if they do that they’ll have a chance to beat ranked opponents in back-to-back games for the first time since 2006-07, when they defeated No. 5 UNC and No. 14 Duke.
“We’ve got to be ready. We’ve got to be locked in. We’ve got to play well,” Turgeon said Wednesday. “They’ve had a few extra days because they played on Christmas Day and haven’t played since. So I’m sure they’ve added plays. Who knows if they’ve added defenses. So they’ll be locked in on us...But we’ll be ready to play. Our guys just have to keep playing with the energy they’ve been playing with and the enthusiasm they’ve been playing with. And when they do that they’re fun to coach.”
The last time the Terps and Wolverines met was just days before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down college basketball and parts of the country. It was a game with high stakes in College Park as Maryland was playing with a Big Ten regular season title on the line. The Terps came out on top 83-70 that day, but Turgeon knows the matchup between these squads on Thursday night will have a much different look in terms of personnel.
“Both teams are so different than last year’s teams when we played, and so much was at stake and the building was full and all of that kind of stuff,” Turgeon said. “But they’re 2-0, they’re undefeated, they’re ranked high. So we’ll be fired up to play.”
Michigan’s top three scorers are all 6-foot-7 or taller. Seven-foot-1 freshman sensation Hunter Dickinson is a load in the post and also happens to hail from Hyattsville, Md., just down the road from College Park.
But Maryland’s best chance to combat the Wolverines’ lineup could be to go with a small lineup early and often. It has been a formula for success in the Terps’ last two games and could be the path to victory for Turgeon’s team on Thursday.
“We feel like that’s what we have to do to be successful,’ Turgeon said. “Not every game, but certain games. And it has worked for us.”
A big part of Maryland’s small lineup and perhaps the Terps’ most valuable player so far this season, sophomore Donta Scott now has seven games in a row in which he has scored 11 points or more and has surpassed that total in all but one game this season.
“He knows how much we need him,” Terps senior guard Darryl Morsell said. “I talk to him all the time. But it’s good to see him playing well right now.”
The Philly native attributes his big jump in production from his freshman to sophomore year to his understanding of what his team needs from him.
“Just a change of my mindset. I knew what I had to give my team last year and I know what I have to give my team this year,” Scott said. “So just a flip of a switch, flip of my mindset and just knowing what I have to contribute to my team and just keep being a leader.”
As far as riding too high off the Wisconsin win to focus against Michigan, Scott isn’t worried about the Terps falling into that trap. He said as soon as they got off the bus to go back to their rooms the celebration of the Wisconsin win ended.
So if you ask Scott, a chance to do something the program hasn’t done in 15 years is being viewed as opportunity, not pressure.
“As a team, we should never feel no pressure because we know what we’re capable of and we know what we can go out there and do,” Scott said. “So as long as we stick to the game plan and have each other’s backs, there should be no pressure for none of us.”
Maryland and Michigan are scheduled to tip off in College Park at 8 p.m. EST. The game will be televised on ESPN and broadcast on the Maryland Sports Radio Network.
