The Terps opened a three-game home stand Wednesday night in impressive fashion, avenging an early season loss to Wisconsin by blasting the Badgers, 73-55.
Maryland (13-7, 4-5) was led once again by senior point guard Jahmir Young, who finished with a game-high 22 points. He was one of four Terps in double-figure scoring along with Donta Scott (14 points), Julian Reese (14 points) and Hakim Hart (13 points).
With the win, the Terps are now 10-1 at home, including a perfect 4-0 in league play. They will next host Nebraska on Saturday afternoon.
Here are three takeaways from the Terps' win over Wisconsin.
Terps dominate the paint
What a difference a couple of months make. After being outscored in the paint in the first meeting with the Badgers 24-18, Maryland dominated Wisconsin in the paint Wednesday night, outscoring them 38-22. While Julian Reese was an impressive 7 of 8 from the field, finishing with 14 points, it was the ability of Hakim Hart and particularly Donta Scott to get to the basket and make shots at the rim that was the real difference in the game.
Hart and Scott combined for 27 points in the win after scoring just 14 points between them in the first meeting. Scott regularly used his size to score down low and hauled in four offensive rebounds while Hart was 5 of 6 from inside the arc and regularly found teammates for easy looks, finishing with eight assists.
Efficient outing
While the Terps seemed to dictate tempo in the early goings, the game wasn't played at a particularly fast pace. In fact, Maryland finished with just 55 possessions, well below their season average. But the Terps played one of their most efficient games of the season Wednesday night, averaging 1.327 points per possession .
Maryland shot 56 percent from the field (their best FG% in league play since beating Michigan in the final game of the 2019-2020 COVID-shortened season), made 6 of 14 threes and made 11 of 14 free throws. The Terps also score 11 second chance points off of eight offensive rebounds. You have to go all the way back to the Miami game in November to find a game in which they were more efficient (1.333 points per possession).
The Terps seem to be peaking once again and have picked a good time with the next two games at home and their next road game at a struggling Minnesota.
Young and Reese again lead the way
Jahmir Young has taken his game to the next level and carried the Terps over the last three weeks. He has scored 20 or more points in four of the last five games and is averaging 21.6 points during that stretch. He's also averaging 6.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists during this stretch. He's been aggressively attacking the basket and not settling for jump shots and it has paid off as he's gotten to the free throw line 36 times in the past five games.
As for Reese, he's had arguably the two best games of his career versus Purdue and now at home versus Wisconsin. He's 15 of 19 from the field in the past two games and has played with a new confidence and aggressiveness since returning from a shoulder injury suffered versus UCLA. While you won't see it in the box score, his post defense and hard screens have had a big impact for the Terps.
It also needs to be mentioned again that while Young and Reese have been the two top dogs of late, the play of Hart and Scott was the difference between the first loss to Wisconsin and Wednesday night's win at home. Scott, in particular, seems to be finding himself once again. His 14 point, 11 rebound double-double was his second in the past four games. He did it all versus the Badgers, scoring down low, knocking down timely threes and grabbing some key offensive rebounds. He even had a block for good measure. When all of Young, Reese, Scott and Hart are playing well, the Terps are extremely tough for anyone to beat.
