Preview: Maryland looking to build momentum for postseason versus Minnesota
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- No. 24 Maryland (21-9, 12-7 Big Ten) will close out the regular season and look to build momentum heading into postseason play as it host Minnesota (19-11, 9-10) on Senior Night March 8 in what will be the second meeting between the Terps and Golden Gophers this year.
With a potential four-seed and double bye in the Big Ten Tournament on the line for head coach Mark Turgeon’s team, Maryland will hope to have a similar outcome in front of its home crowd as it did Jan. 8 when the Terps came away with a 15-point victory in Minneapolis.
The meeting between Big Ten foes will match up two teams that have had opposite fortunes as of late. Maryland has lost its last two outings--a 17-point loss at Penn State and a seven-point loss at home to Michigan--and Minnesota is riding a two-game winning streak, including an impressive 73-69 upset victory at home over No. 11 Purdue Tuesday night.
But despite the recent play of each team, Turgeon believes both the Terps and Golden Gophers have improved immensely since January and should be in for a competitive game at Xfinity Center on Friday night.
“I think we’re both really improved,” Turgeon said. “They’ve had their backs against the wall for like the last three weeks and they’re playing like it.They’ve played really well and their young guys have gotten better. Defensively they’ve gotten better. And I think they know where the ball needs to go now all the time and they’re playing that way, which usually happens with a team.
“We’re approaching it as a couple of years ago we went to their place and won and then they came in (to College Park) and beat us. So we’re well aware. We just want to play well. We thought we played better Sunday (against Michigan), didn’t win. But we want to play well [Friday] night. We’ve had a great week of practice. The guys’ attitudes have been great. So we’re excited about Senior Night and our last home game.”
Terps freshman guard Eric Ayala shared his coach’s sentiment in regards to playing Minnesota for a second time this season. He understands how much teams can grow over the course of two months and expects he and his teammates to be presented with a fresh game plan ahead of their rematch with the Golden Gophers Friday night.
“Honestly, [the first Minnesota game] was a while ago,” Ayala said. “My mind has kind of shifted since that time. But we’re getting ready in practice [Thursday] and coach will have a gameplan ready for us to go into tomorrow with and we just want to go out and execute that.”
Ayala also addressed the mindset of him and his teammates as they prepare for the postseason. With major seeding implications on the line against Minnesota for both the conference and NCAA tournaments, the Terps aren’t focusing on numbers in front of their name as much as they are playing their best ball at the right time.
“[Conference tournament seeding] is in the back of our minds, but we’re kind of focusing just toward Friday and coming out to play our best game for our seniors, get a big win for them,” Ayala said. “If we don’t win tomorrow then none of that will matter at the end of the day. At this moment, it’s getting ready for tournament time and we just want to be the best team we can be going into it. At this point, it’s win or lose and you go home, so we just want to go out and execute the way we’re capable of.”
Execution, at least for a full 40 minutes, is something Ayala feels he and his teammates lacked in their last outing against Michigan. The Terps looked great at times in that game, but fell into scoring droughts and defensive lapses at times that allowed the Wolverines to hang around until the end and ultimately close out the game strong.
“I’m looking forward to going out [Friday] and playing a complete 40 minutes,” Ayala said. “I think that’s what we lacked. We didn’t play a whole 40 minutes against Michigan. So we’re just going to go out there and play hard for that full 40 [Friday].”
The Terps are certainly addressing some internal areas that need improvement, but they’ll also have to focus on stopping the strengths of Minnesota, which have mostly been led by Golden Gophers leading scorers Amir Coffey (15.8 points per game) and Jordan Murphy (14.5).
Coffey, in particular, has been red hot as of late, scoring 31 and 32 points in his last two games, respectively. He’s a dynamic scorer who netted 16 points against Maryland the first time around, but the Terps believe they have the right player to neutralize his productivity.
“Coffey is a talented scorer,” Ayala said. “Respect to him, but we have a great defender in Darryl Morsell and he’s willing to step up to the challenge tomorrow night. He knows what we need him to do and what he has to do for us, so I’m looking forward to seeing Darryl step up to the challenge and take on Coffey tomorrow.”
Murphy is not only Minnesota’s second-leading scorer, he is also the Golden Gophers’ leading rebounder (11.7 rebounds per game) and leads the Big Ten in that category as well. His 20 double-doubles this season are also tops in the conference and one more than Maryland’s sophomore center Bruno Fernando.
“[Murphy] is really good,” Turgeon said. “What a career he has had. They’re the old-school, traditional two bigs like we are, but they’re really jamming it inside with both guys. I think where Murphy’s game has grown since we played there is him catching the ball on the foul line or just around the three-point line and driving it and getting all the way to the rim. It puts a lot of foul pressure on you. But his rebounding just--he’s a terrific defensive rebounder, he’s always in the right spot and he’s just so big and strong. Sometimes offensively because of his strength he’s able to get some (rebounds). But he’s a great player. What a career he has had. It’s funny because coming out of high school I think he was being recruited as more of a stretch-four man, and he’s just a really good post player and extraordinary numbers he’s put over the years. So hopefully we’ll do a good job on him. You can’t give him angles. You have to make him score over you. If he gets angles, he’s pretty good.”
With Maryland slated for one more regular season game and current Big Ten four-seed Wisconsin playing March 7 and March 10, the Terps will have to win Friday night and hope for the Badgers to either lose both of their last contests or drop one of their last two and Purdue to jump Michigan in the standings in order to obtain a first-round bye in the conference tournament.
A loss on Friday would slot Maryland as the fifth seed and they would play their first conference tournament game March 14 against the winner of the game between the No. 12 and No. 13 seeds.
Tip-off in College Park between No. 24 Maryland and Minnesota is scheduled for 7PM EST. The game will be broadcast on Fox Sports 1 (FS1).