For seniors on this campus, watching the Terrapins men’s basketball team defeat top-five teams has become something of a yearly tradition. Duke. Virginia. Wisconsin. They all fell.
Each time sent a wave of students onto Gary Williams Court. Jubilation for a program sapped of it since coach Mark Turgeon took over in 2011. But Thursday night was different. The Terps entered ranked No. 8 in the country.
So when the Terps held off No. 3 Iowa in the first-ever top-10 matchup in Xfinity Center on Thursday for a 74-68 win, the students remained near their seats and applauded as the Terps embraced one another at center court.
“They expect us to win,” Turgeon said of the students. “That’s the way it should be, especially this time of the year. It’s just good to have the students back. … I think the difference tonight was our fans. They gave us a ton of energy.”
As the Terps sealed the win at the free-throw line over the final minute, many of the fans stood on their feet, even bouncing up and down on occasion. But they didn’t need to rush the court to show their appreciation.
The Terps (18-3, 7-2 Big Ten) have been ranked in the top 10 all season, but questions had begun to rise about how good they really were after losses to Michigan and Michigan State. Through the first 20 games, the Terps hadn’t beaten a ranked foe.
“I think the whole world — or everyone that cares about Maryland basketball — was in a panic,” Turgeon said. “We weren’t.”
There were moments of angst Thursday night, perhaps none bigger than when forward Robert Carter Jr., who tied for a game-high 17 points, fouled out with 1:47 left in the game. Carter flailed his arms, Turgeon pleaded with the refs and Xfinity Center was left in disarray with the Terps clinging to a 62-60 lead.
“I was trying to get everybody focused off me,” Carter said of the team huddle after his fifth foul. “We got to figure out the next play, who is coming, who’s going to make the next shot. I was just trying to keep everybody calm and just focus on the task at hand.”
Even without their most efficient scorer on the floor down the stretch, the Terps sealed the game. After Iowa (16-4, 7-1) missed the front end of a one-on-one, Turgeon drew up a play that resulted in a two-handed slam for freshman center Diamond Stone, who scored nine points in his second start since Dec. 1.
Thirteen seconds later, guard Melo Trimble forced a steal that led to a layup from guard Jared Nickens in transition to push the lead to six. Iowa wouldn’t get closer than four the rest of the way.
Part of the Terps’ success stemmed from their defense on the Big Ten’s leading scorer, forward Jarrod Uthoff. Carter teamed up with forward Jake Layman to force Uthoff to miss his first eight attempts from the floor. He scored his first field goal with 18:15 left in the game and finished with nine points on 2-for-13 shooting.
The Terps also got a boost from guard Rasheed Sulaimon, who had scored in double figures just once in the past five games entering Thursday. The graduate transfer hit three 3-pointers in the first half, two of which broke a tie or regained the lead.
He matched Carter with 17 points on 6-for-11 shooting and added a team-high five assists.
“You just got to be mentally tough,” Sulaimon said. “When your shots are there, at the end of the day, you just have to have confidence in yourself.”
After the victory, Sulaimon sat before a scrum of reporters and talked about the expectations placed on the Terps this season. He said the Terps got together numerous times in the days after Saturday’s 74-65 loss at Michigan State for players-only meetings.
They kept talking about “starting to make strides to becoming a better team.”
Thursday night provided the Terps with a chance to make a statement on ESPN against the No. 3 team in the country. It ended with the Terps celebrating on the floor with the students watching from their seats.
“We beat a heck of a team,” Turgeon said. “We beat one of the best, if not the best team, right now, in college basketball.”
