Welcome back to The Diamondback Sports Digest. Every week, we send you a rundown of the latest Maryland athletics news.
It’s hard to remember the last time the Terps had this good of a week — on top of neither basketball or lacrosse team losing, Maryland football fans can take a sigh of relief as five-star commit Zion Elee announced he shut down his recruitment on Friday.
“Crab Five” carries men’s basketball
Maryland only played once last week, defeating USC at home on Thursday, 88-71. It marked the Terps’ fourth-straight win and the 10th victory in their last 12 outings.
The common thread during their hot streak has been a dominant starting group.
“Man, all the guys can go, can create for themselves and others,” sophomore guard Rodney Rice said. “I like what’s going on right now.”
Rice, Ja’Kobi Gillespie, Selton Miguel, Derik Queen and Julian Reese are the highest-scoring starting five in the country. All five have scored double-digits in three straight games, accounting for 263 of the Terps’ 272 points in that span.
It’s led to them earning the “Crab Five” nickname, which puts a Maryland spin on Michigan’s 1990s “Fab Five.”
Women’s basketball goes 2-0
Ever since its 14-0 start, things have been dicey for Maryland women’s basketball.
A 20-point home loss to Nebraska on Feb. 13 was among the low points, but the Terps bounced back this week, winning at home against Michigan on Monday and at Northwestern on Thursday. The victories moved Maryland to 4-1 in its last five games after going 1-4 in the previous five.
Shyanne Sellers exited late on Monday but still played in the win over the Wildcats on Thursday. She didn’t look like herself — the senior guard shot 4-of-12 from the field and tallied seven turnovers, while fellow guard Kaylene Smikle made up for her struggles with her 10th 20-point outing of the year.
Men’s lacrosse wins top-five clash
Maryland men’s lacrosse has owned Princeton in the teams’ annual meetings lately, and that didn’t change on Saturday.
The No. 2 Terps downed the No. 5 Tigers, 13-9, on the road on Saturday. The win was their ninth straight against the Tigers and their second top-five win this year.
Maryland had eight different goal-scorers, none of whom tallied more than two. The balanced scoring attack has been a theme throughout the early portion of the season. On the other side of the field, goalkeeper Logan McNaney continued his stellar play.
The graduate student — who wears the coveted No. 1 jersey — has tallied double-digit saves with a save percentage above .500 in all four of the Terps’ games.
Best Bits
- Trey Ciulla-Hall verbally committed to Maryland and expected to play this season. Instead, the NCAA denied his waiver.
- After struggling in her debut, redshirt freshman goalkeeper JJ Suriano had a bounceback performance against Georgetown.
- Maryland wrestling captain Dominic Solis has adapted to a new role amid his redshirt season.
- Courtney Wyche’s departure has caused pitching struggles for Maryland softball. It’s returning to the basics and focusing on mechanics in hopes of fixing that.
- After weeks of uncharacteristic struggles, a mental reset helped Alexa Rothenbuescher lead Maryland gymnastics again.
Stat of the week
Maryland baseball set a program record with 35 runs against Western Carolina on Saturday.
Quote of the week
Coach Kevin Willard told CBS’ Matt Norlander that Derik Queen would be the top pick in the NBA draft if he were white and European. The freshman center’s response:
Derik Queen on Kevin Willard saying he’d be the first pick in the draft if he was a white European: “I feel like it do got some truth to it.” pic.twitter.com/TjnnskgliB
— Harrison Rich (@harrisonrich_) February 21, 2025
