Terps Halt Hawkeyes

It wasn’t pretty but the 8th-ranked Maryland Terrapins got a signature win, beating the 3rd-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes 74-68 before a packed and rowdy Xfinity Center crowd.

The turning point came with the score 62-60 with 2:18 to go in the contest.

Senior Jake Layman rebounded an Iowa miss and then assisted on a Diamond Stone dunk to make the score 64-60 with 84 seconds to play in the game.

On the next Iowa possession the Terps got a steal by star guard Melo Trimble which was picked up by Layman. He hit Jared Nickens with a beautiful bounce pass and just like that the Terps were up 66-60.

From there the Terps made just enough of their free throws to secure their 25th straight home victory while handing the Hawkeyes their first Big Ten loss of the season and ending their nine game  winning streak. Maryland improved to (18-3, 7-2 Big Ten).

The game featured the first-ever contest between two top 10 teams at the Xfinity Center. It was a tale of two halves as the Terps were hot in the first half and cold in the second half. They jumped out to a 17-9 lead led by Rasheed Sulaimon who scored 11 first half points and had a 41-35 lead at the break.

Their defense kept them in the game in the second half as they went 0-10 from three-point range and had only scored 10 points during the first 12 minutes and six seconds of the second half leading 51-50 with 7:54 to go in the game.

Meanwhile, the Big Ten’s leading scorer, Iowa’s Jarrod Uthoff, was harassed and defended well by both Layman and Robert Carter Jr. He was held to 9 points on 2 of 13 shooting and appeared out of sync the entire game. He came in averaging 18.9 points a game and was not a factor offensively although he did help his team by collecting 10 rebounds.

For Maryland, their leading scorer Trimble was content to be a distributor and finished with 11 points, three assists and three steals. He also made five foul shots at the end of the game to help secure the first win over a ranked team for the Terrapins this season.

Maryland was led by both Carter and Sulaimon who each scored 17 points. Carter also snagged seven rebounds had four assists while going 7 for 11 from the field. Sulaimon helped with five assists and four rebounds.

Layman’s steady influence and stellar defense helped Maryland’s cause. He finished the game with 11 points, seven rebounds and those two key assists late in the game.

The Terps won the rebounding battle 38-35. Both teams shot 50 percent or better in the first half but cooled off in the second half. Maryland went 9 for 27 while Iowa shot 37 percent from the field including going 3 for 15 from beyond the arc after intermission.

Maryland ended the game with six blocks and seven steals to help offset their second half shooting woes.

Iowa sank 9 of 15 free throws while the Terrapins were 16 of 23, including 15 of 22 in the second half from the charity stripe.

Iowas was led by Peter Jok who scored 14 points. Mike Gesell chipped in with 12 points and Adam Woodbury added 11 points and 10 rebounds in a losing effort for the (16-4, 7-1) Hawkeyes.