Home court advantage is not exaggerated in college basketball. Maryland (18-9, 9-7 Big Ten) enjoyed their signature win last Thursday with a 68-54 win over then-No. 3 Purdue that wasn’t as close as the score showed.
The Terps dominated the second half by shooting 63% and went on a 32-6 run to pull ahead and away. But in the Big Ten, momentum is only a flight and 40 minutes on the floor away from turning from a mountain to a molehill, and on Sunday, the Terrapins came up short in overtime at Nebraska (14-14, 7-10) 70-66.
Turnovers told the tale in OT as the Terps lost the ball four times in the extra session, including a game-sealing steal and layup by the Cornhuskers with 35 seconds left.
Lincoln can certainly feel cold in February, but this wasn’t the first Big Ten stumble away from Xfinity Center: the Terrapins are 1-7 on the road in league play, and the other two schools that have just one league win are 13th-place Ohio State and 14th-place Minnesota.
Now, before you get out of control, only two Big Ten schools boast winning conference road records and home teams are 78-35 in league play entering Wednesday’s games. One school has a better Big Ten record on the road than at home, and that’s because Minnesota is 0-8 in the barn and 1-6 away from the Twin Cities.
The Terps get two more home games before finishing the regular season on the road next week with games at Ohio State and Penn State (combined 7-8 at home in league play).
But this is where head coach Kevin Willard wants to be: right in the mix for a double-bye in the Big Ten Tournament (they’re in a six-way tie for fourth) and on track for an NCAA Tournament berth (ESPN, CBS and FOX each have the Terps comfortably in as a No. 7 seed).
“I’ve always said this — if you’re in contention for an at-large bid you’ve had a really, really good year. Cause it’s hard. This is not ‘tense,’ this is fun,” Willard said last week before Maryland hosted Purdue. “You’re playing in the best basketball conference in the country and it really matters, like man, that’s fun. That’s what I’m in this for.”
They have four games left to put gather momentum heading into the Big Ten Tournament.
This week’s starting five
Up top: Alabama’s loss to Tennessee caused another change atop the AP Top 25, with Houston moving into the No. 1 slot and the Crimson Tide slipping to second (I have Kansas as my No. 2). And yes, before their loss at Nebraska, the Terps were on my ballot. My biggest variances from the consensus were my No. 9 Miami, No. 17 Northwestern and No. 18 Iowa State. This week’s difficult omissions: UConn, Texas A&M, Maryland and Kent State. Small school shout-outs: Oral Roberts, Southern Miss, College of Charleston.
Going inside: Howard (17-11, 9-2 MEAC) saw its winning streak reach nine before things came crashing down Monday at Morgan State when the Bears put 61 points on the board in the second half. The Bison still lead the conference by one game with three remaining and play road games at fourth-place North Carolina Central and last-place South Carolina State before wrapping things up against second-place Norfolk State in a game that could be for the regular season title and No. 1 seed in the upcoming conference tournament.
On the perimeter: George Mason (16-12, 8-7 Atlantic 10) has put together three straight wins to surge up the standings. Three days after holding the A-10’s top scoring team George Washington to their lowest point total of the season, the Patriots gritted out a 70-66 victory over La Salle that moved them a half-game ahead of the Explorers for sixth place.
“You know we just got to find a way to continue to improve and get better,” head coach Kim English said. “These last three games were great, really good wins for us. We get to continue to try to rise in the standings of this league.”
The middle of the league is almost as congested as the Big Ten with two games separating fifth place from eleventh (and a ticket to the Dreaded First Round). But English’s team is much more than Josh Oduro in the post (named Conference Player of the Week after averaging 20 points and 10 rebounds while shooting 63%) as junior guard Ronald Polite is hitting his stride (the guard’s three last Saturday with 2:01 left put Mason ahead to stay and his free throw with five seconds left sealed the victory). Mason’s path ahead involves trips to second-place Dayton and reigning A-10 Tournament champ Richmond while they host surprising Fordham (Rams have won 20+ games for the first time since 1991) next Wednesday on Senior Night.
Who’s open: On Wednesday, two teams heading in opposite directions meet inside the District as American (15-12, 7-9 Patriot League) hosts Navy (17-11, 10-6) at 7 p.m. The Eagles have lost nine of twelve while the Midshipmen have won six in a row (and nine of 10). The blemish in that stretch for the Midshipmen? A 73-69 loss in Annapolis to AU where Matt Rogers scored 18 points. The Mids boast reigning Patriot League Player of the Week Daniel Deaver (averaging 20 points and 10 rebounds while shooting 61% during the winning streak), but the senior was held to six points with four turnovers in the January loss to the Eagles.
Last shot: Actually a few of them, as the regular season winds down. American concludes the regular season Saturday by facing Loyola (MD) Saturday with Patriot League seeding likely in the balance (AU with two games remaining is in a three-way tie for fifth place). Sunday afternoon, there will be two more Senior Days inside the Beltway with Georgetown (7-21, 2-15 Big East) and Maryland playing their final regular-season home games. The Terps host No. 21 Northwestern (20-7, 11-5 Big Ten), who has already set a school record for conference wins in a season and is virtually assured of reaching the NCAA Tournament for the second time ever (their 2017 Big Ten Quarterfinal win over Maryland in D.C. likely punched their first-ever ticket). They’re also one of two schools in the conference with a winning road record. While this is the first of what appears to be many Senior Days for Willard at Xfinity Center, it’s not out of the realm of possibility to suggest that this might be head coach Patrick Ewing’s final home regular season game in this role. But for one more day, his Hoyas face a conference foe that’s having a much better season as well as extended success in the new-look Big East: No. 20 Providence (20-7, 12-4) has all but locked up a seventh appearance in nine NCAA Tournaments since realignment. But the Friars are 3-4 on the road in conference play. Hey, it’s tough winning on the road in Division I Men’s Basketball.
