Maryland Tops #17 Wisconsin 76-68 In a Battle Of the Big Ten

Maryland extends their winning streak at home to 10 games in an impressive defensive showing against one of the best offenses in college basketball

The Wisconsin Badgers, winners of eight of their last nine, were tasked with beating a Maryland team that had won 9 in a row at home. In a game where both teams could gain a Quad 1 win, Maryland bested Wisconsin by forcing them into a low-scoring, physical matchup. Wisconsin started the game poorly, turning the ball over 5 times through the first 8 minutes. Maryland’s defense smothered Wisconsin’s two leading scorers John Tonje and John Blackwell, forcing the entire team into tough shots on the perimeter. Fortunately, for the Badgers, they shot nearly 50% from the three to keep the game close.

Maryland’s head coach Kevin Willard said before the game that the matchup would be decided by the two team’s respective bigs: Julian Reese and Steven Crowl. Willard lived up to his promise, as the Terrapin offense ran through Reese and the post the entire game, but they found their rhythm in the second half to pull away from the Badgers. Reese finished with 14 points and 8 rebounds, and was a defensive force in the paint. When the Badgers were forced to help on Reese, Selton Miguel and Ja’kobi Gillespie were ready to knock down shots behind the arc, with the two players finishing with 12 and 16 respectively.

The Badgers relied heavily on John Tonje, who scored 23 on 50% shooting. John Blackwell sat out critical minutes in the first half after picking up two quick fouls, limiting him to only 10 points for the game. Wisconsin couldn’t find the bottom of the net in the second half, but they lost tonight for the same reason they fell to UCLA: turnovers. Modern Wisconsin basketball is fast-paced and three-point heavy, but it’s tough to win games when you give the opposing team extra possessions.

Both of these teams should earn relatively high seeds in March, but their schedules down the stretch are drastically different. Wisconsin plays a gauntlet, with Purdue, Oregon, Michigan St., and Illinois looming. Contrarily, Maryland’s toughest remaining opponents are Michigan and Michigan St. With the Terrapins currently sitting at 4th in the Big Ten standings, it wouldn’t be shocking to see them finish as high as a 4 seed. Before tonight Wisconsin was on pace for a 4 seed, but they will certainly have to clean up the offensive side of the ball if they want to survive this latter part of the season