Gophers Win First Big Ten Game with 68-63 Upset of #5 Maryland
February 18, 2016

Fans stormed the court at Williams Arena for the first time since the Minnesota Gophers beat the top-ranked Indiana Hoosiers in 2013. This time the rush up and onto the raised floor was for a 68-63 victory over the fifth-ranked Maryland Terrapins, but it also happened to be the first win in two months for the Gophers, who were 0-13 in conference play coming into the game.

“We haven’t had this feeling in a while,” said Minnesota coach Richard Pitino. “To beat a really good team is exciting, especially the way we did it—with defense, rebounding, making free throws.”

Minnesota held an 11-point lead at halftime and upped the margin to 12 a couple times in the second half. Offensive rebounding, along with accuracy at the free-throw line, made up for cold shooting down the stretch, allowing the Gophers to hang on and win, even after falling being by a point with just over three minutes in the second half.

Maryland was coming off a loss to Wisconsin, its first loss to a conference opponent since joining the Big Ten two seasons ago. And it resulted in another loss, that of freshman center Diamond Stone, who was suspended for the Minnesota game for a flagrant foul against the Badgers.

Joey King came off the bench to hit back-to-back three-pointers for a 16-10 lead, one the Gophers increased over the rest of the half. “I was disappointed in how we played defense in the first half,” said Maryland coach Mark Turgeon. “We weren’t very locked in, and we dug ourselves in another hole.”

Minnesota made seven three-pointers early in the game and shot 47 percent from the field in the first half. The hot hands went away in the second half, when the Gophers connected on only 6 of 20 shots, including one-three pointer. The latter was a long-range launch by Nate Mason as the shot clock was winding down and after the Terrapins had pulled within a point. The Gophers had trouble getting shots off against a Maryland defense that was more tenacious in the second half, causing two shot-clock violations in addition to a desperation brick.

But Minnesota capitalized on second chances provided at the line, grabbing rebounds off the offensive glass and then converting on free throws.

Maryland chipped away and culminated a comeback on a three-pointer by Rasheed Sulaimon with 3:04 left, giving the Terrapins a 61-60 lead, its first since going ahead 5-2 on a three-pointer by

Both teams then missed shots before Joey King went to the line for a one-and-one with 2:09 left. King buried both. Minnesota increased the lead to 63-61 on a free throw by Jordan Murphy, but Maryland had a chance to tie the game when Sulaimon wwent to the line with 35.9 seconds left. Sulaimon missed the first and made the second, leaving the Terrapins down by a point.

Mason then lost the ball in the backcourt, but Dupree McBrayer stole it right back, forcing Maryland to foul Mason, who sank both free throws for a 64-61 lead. The Gophers held on after that, setting off a celebration among players and fans.

Of finally getting a conference win, Pitino joked, “I can start going inside the Starbucks instead of going through the drive-through.”

Mason led Minnesota scorers with 18 points to go with 6 rebounds and 6 assists in addition to holding Maryland sophomore star Melo Trimble to 10 points and harassing the point guard into 6 turnovers. Murphy had 17 points and 11 rebounds, nearly half of those off the offensive glass. For Maryland, Sulaimon scored 28 points, and center Damonte Dodd blocked 6 shots.

“We’re not going to win pretty,” Pitino said. “We have to win ugly, and we did that tonight.”