Story By: Erin Zollars
Photos By: Sol Tucker
College Park, MD–
Coming into today’s match-up against the Huskers, the Terps were looking to avoid another close finish like they had in overtime against Northwestern, but needless to say, the Huskers made it anything but that today.
Ja’Kobi Gillespie was the x factor in this game today, not only making a critical shot with 40 seconds remaining in the game, but finishing with 22 game high points
Rodney Rice scored seven of his 15 points in a key 1:21 stretch of the second half to help the Terrapins improve to 4-0 in conference games at home.
Selton Miguel added 13 points as Maryland won its seventh game in the past eight against Nebraska and improved to 13-4 in the series.
Maryland had quite a bit of trouble finding a combination between Derik Queen and Julian Reese that was able to stop Huskers reserve Andrew Morgan, who scored 17 points off the bench and was the main reason the Huskers had a 55-54 advantage late in the game before the Terps went on the 10-0 run.
After the game Terps Head Coach Kevin Willard was asked about the defense and the struggles the Terps had trying to find the right combination to get guys like Gillespie open.
“The biggest encouragement is the fact that the only guy that’s gone against Fred’s defense is really Julian, and it’s a unique defense where they really take away post-play. Everything’s forced baseline. They just crowd the post. So, we only had one day of prep, so we spent most of the time on the defensive side. I thought Ju did a good job as the game went on, just trying to explain to the guys what was going on with the defense, when to throw it to him, when not to throw it to him because, especially with their size, It’s a unique defense. If you haven’t played against it’s really tough,” said Willard.
Next up for the Terps is a pair of road games starting this Thursday against Illinois and then on the 26th against Indiana.