Nebrasketball: Maryland Terrapins Preview (Both Games)

The Nebraska Cornhuskers continue an east coast swing tonight with the start of a back-to-back series against the Maryland Terrapins in College Park. In the ongoing saga of figuring out how to play a full 20-game league schedule, the cancelation of a game in Lincoln to play back-to-back games in College Park tonight and tomorrow is either “ingenious” or “outrageous” depending on your perspective. Or just plain shitty for the players of both teams involved.

The series against the Terps will end a string of seven games in 12 days since returned to the court in East Lansing on Feb. 6. For comparison, the 2020 season saw Nebraska play just seven games in the entire month of February (one of which a close loss at Maryland attended by yours truly). The Huskers have not played more than eight games in the entire month of February since joining the Big Ten in the 2011-2012 season. UNL will play a minimum of nine games in total this month based on the current schedule and could add more as games are rescheduled.

When

6:00 p.m. CST/7:00 EST Tuesday, Feb. 16 and Wednesday, Feb. 17

Where

College Park, MD - XFINITY Center

TV: Big Ten Network

Play-by-play: Kevin Kugler

Analyst: Brian Butch (Tue.)/Jess Settles (Wed.)

Online Broadcast: Fox Sports app & foxsports.com/live

Radio

IMG College Sports Network

1400 AM in Lincoln, 590 AM in Omaha, 880 AM in Lexington

Play-by-play: Kent Pavelka

Analyst: Jake Muhleisen

Online Radio: Available on Huskers.com, Huskers App, TuneIn.com/Huskers and TuneIn App.

XM: 387 (Tue.)/389 (Wed.)

SiriusXM (internet): 977 (Tue.)/979 (Wed.)

The Terrapins enter tonight’s matchup with an 11-10 overall record and a 5-9 record in league play. Coming off its first [share] of a Big Ten title in men’s basketball since joining the league, the Terps have had a mixed result on the season thus far. Besides losing Jalen Smith and Anthony Cowan Jr., who were All-Big Ten First Team selections in both media and coaches last season along with being first round draft picks in the 2020 NBA Draft, Maryland had a brutal front-loaded schedule.

The Terps faced 10 ranked conference opponents in its first 13 league games. However, despite the tough road, Maryland still managed road wins against Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. To date, Maryland remains the only home loss the Golden Gophers have faced. Wins at Illinois and Wisconsin are also quite impressive. Despite this, Maryland is just 2-5 at home. Also, the Terps did return four of their top six scorers from last season.

Junior Eric Ayala leads Maryland in scoring with 14.2 points per game. Aaron Wiggins (12.7 points per game) and Donta Scott (12.2 points per game) are the other double figure scorers. Scott also leads the team on the boards with 6.6 rebounds per game while Wiggins adds 5.3.

Offensively, the Terps shoot 46 percent from the field as a team, good for fifth in the Big Ten. They also manage to go 35 percent from beyond the arc, good for seventh in the league. Hopeful signs for the Huskers include the fact Maryland is dead last in the Big Ten in scoring offense and offensive rebounds. Defensively, however, they rank third in the league, but are 12th in opponent three-point percentage, ninth in rebound margin, 10th in turnover margin, and 10th in assist to turnover ratio.

Barring some personal emergency coming up to prevent it, be sure to follow along on Twitter at the Bangs and Dags profile and the game thread as I will be covering Nebraska’s game (at least on Tuesday as of now) in person from XFINITY center.

Go Big Red!