umterps Notebook: Streaks Snapped & Extended
2/24/2016 4:00:00 PM | Terrapin Athletics
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The men's basketball team snapped its two-game losing skid and in this week's umterps Notebook we will take a look at how long it has been since the Terps dropped three straight, plus much, much more.
Third Time Not A Charm
A rabid gold-clad crowd was in attendance on Sunday afternoon to witness a gutsy late comeback by the Maryland men's basketball team, which managed to prevent its first three-game losing skid since the 2011-12 season with an 86-82 victory over Michigan.
With Melo Trimble and Diamond Stone both suffering through sub-par shooting days, Robert Carter (17 pts) and Jake Layman (16 pts) picked up the Terps.
Michigan, which trailed by 16 in the first half and by nine midway through the second, went on a 10-2 run to take a 73-72 lead (the Wolverines' first since leading 8-7 at the 16:30 mark of the first half).
With Michigan leading by three, 75-72, Trimble hit a pair of free throws to cut the Terps' deficit to one. Carter came down and attempted a jumper that was off the mark. Damonte Dodd grabbed the rebound, but his put-back wouldn't go either. Carter, who followed his shot, skied over everyone on the glass for a put-back of his own that put the Terps up by one and gave them a lead they would never relinquish.
Carter was sensational down the stretch, scoring six points and grabbing four rebounds, including two offensive boards.
While Trimble was just 3-of-10 from the field for the game, he continues to be money from the free throw line, converting 7-of-8 attempts, including the final two of the game that gave the Terps an all-important four-point lead (a two-possession game) with just 5.5 sec. remaining.
A plan of a quick 3-pointer, a foul and some luck still gave Michigan some hope with less than 6 sec. left, but Jaylen Brantley read the final inbounds pass perfectly and stole the ball to finish out the game.
As mentioned above, Maryland has not lost three in a row since the 2011-12 season when it has a pair of three-game losing skids. The last of which came from Feb. 25-Mar. 3 in games at Georgia Tech (61-63), at North Carolina (64-88) and Virginia (72-75 OT).
If you look at the top 10 teams in this week's AP Top 25 poll, only two schools (Virginia & Arizona) have a longer stretch of not losing three consecutive games in a single season.
Villanova – 2012-13: at Syracuse, Pittsburg, at Providence
Kansas – 2012-13: Oklahoma State, at TCU, at Oklahoma
Virginia – 2010-11: at Miami, at Florida State, Duke
Oklahoma – 2012-13: at TCU, vs. Iowa State (Big 12), vs. San Diego State (NCAA)
Xavier – 2013-14: at Providence, Seton Hall, at Villanova
Michigan State – 2015-16: Iowa, at Wisconsin, Nebraska
North Carolina – 2013-14: at Wake Forest, Miami, at Syracuse
Iowa – 2014-15: at Wisconsin, at Purdue, Wisconsin
Arizona – 2009-10: Oregon State, Arizona State, at Cal
The win over Michigan not only prevented the three-game skid, but it gives Maryland a 23-5 mark and keeps the Terps alive for the regular season Big Ten title and the No. 1 seed in the upcoming conference tournament.
The Terps are a half-game back of Indiana and Iowa, both of which the Terps play only once this season. Maryland topped the Hawkeyes back on Jan. 28, while the lone game vs. the Hoosiers is the season finale in Bloomington, Ind., on Mar. 6.
Don't forget there's only one home game left this season, so if you want to see the 2015-16 Maryland Terrapins you still can by bidding on either a two- or four-ticket package (parking pass included) at umterps.com.
23 And Counting
The Maryland men's lacrosse team upped its season-opening winning streak to 23 games with a 15-10 win over High Point on Saturday at Capital One Field at Maryland Stadium.
The Panthers proved difficult to put away and actually held an 8-7 lead halfway through the third quarter thanks in large part to four goals by Canadian attackman Dan Lomas.
But Lomas wasn't the only Canadian on the field and in the end it was Maryland senior midfield Bryan Cole who had a career day to lift the Terps. Cole was a steady source of offense for Maryland throughout the game, scoring three goals and adding four assists for a career-high seven points.
Cole's seven points are the most for a Maryland player in a season opener since 2004 when Xander Ritz had seven points on three goals and four assists in his first-ever game as a Terp at No. 6 Georgetown.
The record for points in a season opener for the Terps is eight. Rick Moyer had four goals and four assists in Maryland's 1978 season opener – a 25-11 victory at NC State.
The Terps face a tremendous early season challenge this weekend when they travel to New Haven, Conn., to take on No. 7 Yale at 1 p.m. Maryland and Yale played twice last season with the Elis taking the regular-season meeting, 10-6, but the Terps got even, knocking Yale out of the NCAA tournament with an 8-7 win at home in opening round action.
This year's Yale team is led by the 2015 Ivy League Freshman of the Year Ben Reeves, who scored four goals and added three assists in the 17-7 season-opening win over UMass Lowell on Saturday.
The Maryland-Yale game is scheduled to be streamed live on the Ivy League Digital Network. Of course, updates are always available on the Maryland men's lacrosse official Twitter feed @TerpsMLax.
Play Ball
The Maryland baseball team opened its 2016 season at Alabama last weekend and while the 1-2 start wasn't what the team wanted there was plenty to be optimistic about.
First and foremost was the performance by All-American Mike Shawaryn in the season opener. Shawaryn struck out eight in just five innings of work, which moves him into a tie for seventh on the school's career strikeouts list with Mike Romanovsky. Shawaryn is within striking distance of Steve Schmoll's career record of 272 K's.
The bats came alive in the second game of the series as the Terps topped the Tide, 9-5. Nick Cieri, who went 2-for-4 with three RBIs, Anthony Papio and Madison Nickens all went deep in Maryland's six-run fourth inning.
Fans can catch the Terps in action when they open their 2016 home schedule this weekend vs. Rhode Island in a three-game set at Bob “Turtle” Smith Stadium.
Shawaryn is likely to start the home opener vs. Rams on Friday, Feb. 26 at 4 p.m. Tickets are available at the stadium on game day or can be purchased in advance by clicking here.
Quick Hitters
• This is the key week for the Maryland women's basketball team's quest to secure back-to-back Big Ten regular season titles. The Terps and conference-leading Ohio State each have to games left with both coming this weekend.
In order for the Terps to claim the championship and the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Big Ten tournament, Maryland, which is a game behind Ohio State, would need to sweep home games vs. Wisconsin and Minnesota, while the Buckeyes would need to lose road games at Minnesota and at Michigan State.
The Terps are guaranteed to be no lower than the No. 2 seed in the tournament, which runs from March 2-6 in Indianapolis.
• The No. 1 Maryland women's lacrosse team cruised to an 18-8 win over Georgetown on Saturday behind four goals from All-American Meghan Whittle and five points from Zoe Stukenberg.
The 2-0 Terps face an early season challenge this Saturday when they play at No. 5 North Carolina, which is coming off of a 15-14 loss to No. 4 Florida last weekend. UNC is the last team to defeat Maryland in a regular season game, upending the Terps, 17-15, at Fetzer Field on April 5, 2014.
The Maryland-UNC game is scheduled to be streamed on GoHeelsTV, which is a subscription service through goheels.com.
• Records are made to be broken, but Shannon Bustillos probably though her mark for career home runs for Maryland softball would last longer than 14 games.
Lindsey Schmeiser clubbed her 31st career home run in the sixth inning vs. Alabama this past weekend at the Georgia State Tournament to eclipse the record of 30 home runs Bustillos set on May 1, 2015 at Michigan State.
• Good luck to Andrew Valmon and the Maryland track and field squad as it competes at the Big Ten Championships this weekend in Geneva, Ohio. The Terps have the potential to capture some individual championships, so be sure to follow the official Twitter account for updates: @MarylandTrack.
Tweet of the Week
Draft Day!! Congrats to the newest member of our team, Marisol, on signing her NLI! @GoTeamIMPACT pic.twitter.com/rjITEniAEB
— Maryland Softball (@TerpsSoftball) February 23, 2016
Wrapping Up
That's it for this edition of the umterps Notebook. Don't forget to follow Maryland athletics on all of the social media platforms: Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Patrick Fischer is the Director of Digital Media and Website Management for the University of Maryland Department of Intercollegiate Athletics
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the Maryland athletics department or its athletics programs.
