Maryland opens Big Ten play with domination of Ohio State

COLLEGE PARK — In its first taste of Big Ten play, Maryland completely and utterly dominated Ohio State.

Guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie scored 12 of his 23 points from three, center Derik Queen added 17 and 10 rebounds and the Terrapins rolled to their first conference win of the year, 83-59 over the Buckeyes, in a remarkable performance that sends a warning shot to the rest of the league.

“We had our best practice we had all year yesterday,” Maryland coach Kevin Willard said. “This is a good Ohio State team. They just came off a tough loss at Pitt. You’ll take these, you don’t get them very often. So I’m just going to take it and run.”

Maryland (7-1, 1-0 Big Ten) forced 12 Ohio State turnovers in the first half and 17 for the game, asserting its dominance early with stifling pressure. The Terrapins made the Buckeyes (5-3, 0-1) look like a shell of themselves, with Ohio State only making six field goals in the first half in a game that was essentially over by halftime.

“We’re the eighth-ranked defensive team in the country, so we’ve been kinda doing it all year,” Willard said. “But to do it in a conference game I think was the most important thing.”

Devin Royal led Ohio State with 18 points, not nearly enough against a Maryland defense that held the Big Ten’s best 3-point shooting team (44.8%) to 4-of-18 and 0-of-7 in the first half. Tafara Gapare scored 12 for Maryland on 5-of-7 shooting, and Selton Miguel and Julian Reese were the other Terrapins in double figures with 10 each.

“That was a big emphasis on the scouting report,” Gillespie said “They had four players shooting like 40% from three, so we just wanted to make them kind of dribble.”

The dominant performance was the first of a two-game appetizer in the Big Ten, with a trip to No. 8 Purdue on tap Sunday before conference play resumes fully in early January. It provided a sample of how Maryland’s defensive identity when combined with supplemental scoring can help it win in this new iteration of the Big Ten.

“Ja’Kobi really set the tone. [Julian] got off to a good start. We hit a couple shots,” Willard said. “We made a quick adjustment in our press at the under-16 timeout that I think helped us and kinda threw them off a little bit.”

Gillespie started the game with two threes and Miguel added another to put the Terrapins up 12-6. Maryland was the epitome of complementary basketball, shooting 55.6% on the offensive end and forcing 9 turnovers in the first 15 minutes of play.

Maryland extended its lead to 18-8 as Gapare dropped a baseline dunk as part of an 11-0 Terps run in the middle of the half as the Buckeyes went nearly 5 minutes without a point. 

“For me, it’s just giving him enough time to make a difference on the court,” Willard said of Gapare. “Early in the season, he got lost a lot. He’s not getting lost anymore, and I think you’re starting to see someone who has a lot of confidence in his game.”

Even with 7-foot-1 Ohio State forward Aaron Bradshaw out due to injury, Maryland already had the size advantage over a guard-heavy Buckeyes roster. The Terrapins used it expertly, eliminating any open perimeter looks and frequently forcing Ohio State to use most, if not all of the shot clock.

Ohio State only made four field goals through the first 14 minutes of play, missed eight of their last nine shots in the first half, and didn’t have a make from the field in the final 4:03 of the frame as Maryland led 50-17 at the break. The total was the most ever in a Big Ten regular season game for the Terrapins and their 33-point lead was the largest in any Big Ten regular season game since the 1996 season.

“Just [wanted] to come out and make a statement,” Gapare said, “tell people who we are and what we’re doing this season, and trying to do big things.”

Things broke a little bit more evenly to start the second half, with Ohio State scoring 6 points in the first 4 minutes and Maryland adding 8. The Buckeyes finally made their first three with 13:39 to go from the hands of John Mobley, drawing a sarcastic cheer from the Maryland crowd.

But even with a more typical rhythm, Maryland’s lead was insurmountable. The Terps now have Quad 1 win with the victory to help burnish their resume for a potential NCAA Tournament berth.