COLLEGE PARK – A nine-day layoff clearly did Maryland men’s basketball some good.
Using a 38-8 run to close out the final 10 minutes of the first half, the Terps cruised to a 111-57 shellacking of visiting Saint Francis Tuesday night before an announced 10,555 at Xfinity Center.
Maryland (9-2) showed few side effects stemming from its longest break of the year. The team set season highs in field-goal percentage (.618), made baskets (42) and 3-pointers (15) and tied the 25 assists it lodged in a 96-58 romp over Alcorn State on Dec. 1 to bounce back convincingly from an 83-78 loss to No. 16 Purdue on Dec. 8.
The Terps picked up their sixth win in their last seven games and their fourth effort of 90 points or more, doubling up last year’s total of two. The sixth victory by at least 30 points equaled the most in a season since the 2002-03 squad finished with six.
Maryland enjoyed its most effective offensive outing since defeating Fairleigh Dickinson, 111-85, on Nov. 18, 2005. And the offense’s 3-point barrage was the second-most in program history after 17 3-pointers in a 101-50 rout of Missouri-Kansas City on Dec. 13, 2006.
“I think we’ve been trending that way for a while — coming off a really tough loss at Purdue, taking some time off and getting these guys a little bit more in rhythm and really focusing in on the individual instruction side of it and just giving them some time to focus on finals,” coach Kevin Willard said. “When we pass the basketball that way, these guys can make shots.”
They dominated the Red Flash in several departments such as points off turnovers (33-4), fastbreak points (29-7), rebounds (43-20), offensive rebounds (11-3), second-chance points (17-2), points in the paint (50-26) and bench points (34-18).
All five Maryland starters reached double digits in scoring. Graduate student small forward Selton Miguel scored 17 of his game-high 24 points in the first half and added four assists and three rebounds, sophomore shooting guard Rodney Rice compiled 16 points, three rebounds and two assists, and senior power forward Julian Reese, a Randallstown native and St. Frances graduate, racked up 11 points, 12 rebounds, three assists and two steals for his fourth double-double of the year.
Freshman center Derik Queen, a Baltimore resident, accumulated 15 points and five rebounds, and junior point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie collected 11 points, six assists, two rebounds and two steals.
Miguel set a season best in points, smashing the 15 points he scored in a 108-37 thrashing of Canisius on Nov. 19 and finishing one point shy of his personal high which came with South Florida against Florida Atlantic on Feb. 18. He converted his first basket off a feed by Reese that he later said proved crucial.
“Just felt like making my first shot,” Miguel said of the key to his performance. “I think just getting open, Coach Willard just told me to be more aggressive. I did that tonight.”
The game likely served as a tune-up for Saturday’s Gotham Classic when the Terps meet Syracuse (5-5) at noon at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Despite lacking the size on the interior and the skill from the perimeter to keep up with Terps, the Red Flash matched them stride-for-stride through the game’s first 10 minutes. In fact, Saint Francis used eight unanswered points to assume a 21-17 lead with 10:32 left in the first half.
But that’s when Maryland seemed to remember who’s the bigger and better team. Freshman center Derik Queen scored five of the team’s next 10 points to give the Terps a 27-23 lead.
Then Maryland scored 10 consecutive points in 88 seconds for its 16th 10-0 spurt of the season – matching all of last season’s production in that category. And when Miguel drained a 3-pointer with 3:47 remaining, the offense had drained five straight 3-pointers. Even when Miguel missed his next long-range attempt to end that splurge, Rice calmly nailed a 3-pointer to help the Terps convert six of their last seven.
“That was probably the best of the season,” Rice said of the team’s 3-point prowess. “I think we were 54 percent or something like that. That’s a very well-done job. We’re going to try to continue to do that.”
The Red Flash went the last 2:28 of the first half without a point, and Maryland closed out the period with nine points in 90 seconds to enjoy a 55-29 lead at halftime. That marked the team’s fifth 50-point first half of the season, dwarfing last year’s total of two.
Freshman shooting guard Juan Cranford Jr. paced Saint Francis with 21 points – his fifth consecutive start of reaching double figures in that category – and grabbed two rebounds. Freshman shooting guard Jeremy Clayville came off the bench to collect 11 points and three assists, but the Red Flash (4-8) dropped their second game in a row and fourth in their last six.
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