Even though Maryland and Minnesota are among six Big Ten teams with losing records, the Terrapins and Golden Gophers have had decidedly different seasons under their first-year coaches.
For Maryland (8-14, 1-10), this has been a historically dismal year, its worst to this point since 1988-89. In losing eight of their last nine, each of the defeats for Buzz Williams’ Terrapins has come by double-digit margins.
Meanwhile, this has been a what-might-have-been season for Minnesota (11-12, 4-8) under Niko Medved. During a recent seven-game losing streak, four of the Golden Gophers’ defeats came by four or fewer points and another was in overtime.
Minnesota finally overcame its luckless streak in a big way on Wednesday with a 76-73 upset of No. 10 Michigan State. It was the Golden Gophers’ first win over a top-10 team since January of 2021.
“We’ve got so many high-character guys on this team. They keep coming to fight,” Medved said. “Been so close in so many of these games and they keep showing up.”
All five Minnesota starters scored in double figures, including Jaylen Crocker-Johnson (22 points, seven rebounds), Cade Tyson (17 points) and Langston Reynolds (14 points, eight assists).
“It’s been a crazy season so far being in these close games,” Crocker-Johnson said. “We all agree, a moral victory, we can’t stand for it anymore.”
It’s been a different story for Maryland, which suffered its most decisive loss since 1944 two weeks ago at Michigan State, 91-48, and followed up with its worst ever loss in its 24 seasons at the Xfinity Center, 93-63, to Purdue.
Despite the overwhelming nature of the defeats, Williams has been pleased with the Terrapins’ effort.
“I have a lot of gratitude towards our guys for how hard they’re continuing to fight and try and I completely understand the expectations of the program,” Williams said. “I think you have to be careful when you’re 1-10 that anything you say comes across as an excuse.”
The Terrapins are the lowest-rated power conference team in the NET Rankings at No. 182.
In Maryland’s most recent defeat, 82-62, Thursday at home against Ohio State, Elijah Saunders scored a season-high 20 points.
Andre Mills tallied a career-high 18 points in the Purdue loss on Feb. 1.
