Maryland men’s basketball kept the good times rolling Feb. 18 in College Park, Md., holding serve at home with a 76-67 victory over Northwestern.
The No. 7-ranked Terps (22-4, 12-3 Big Ten) were never in serious danger of an upset at the hands of the last-place Wildcats (6-19, 1-14), as they never trailed and led for 39:43. Maryland took a 37-25 lead into halftime, but Northwestern started the second half hot and trimmed the margin as low as three. Mark Turgeon’s team responded, though, and led by 12 in the final minute before coming out on top by nine.
Jalen Smith was the star once again, amassing 22 points and a career-high 19 rebounds — one board shy of becoming the first Terp to record a 20-20 game since Joe Smith in the 1995 NCAA Tournament. Anthony Cowan Jr. was right behind with 19 points, while Darryl Morsell notched 13 and Donta Scott added 12. The Terps actually shot worse from the field (41 percent) than Northwestern (42.9 percent), but advantages on the boards (41-33) and at the line (18-of-22 to 6-of-8) kept them ahead throughout.
