COLLEGE PARK, MD - Before a sellout Red Out crowd of 17,950, Maryland won its 10th consecutive conference home game, beating Penn State, 74-68, on Saturday afternoon at XFINITY Center. Maryland is now 17-8 overall and 8-6 in conference with a perfect 7-0 mark in home Big Ten games this season. The Terps are 13-1 at home this season.
Hakim Hart tallied a season-high 23 points, including 15 in the second half. He also had five rebounds and four assists. He hit 8-of-10 from the floor. It marked the most points Hart has scored during his career in a Big Ten game.
Jahmir Young scored in double-figures for the 11th game in a row with 18 points. He also had four rebounds and four assists.
Julian Reese scored 11 points, had five rebounds and blocked three shots.
Donta Scott had nine points and 10 rebounds with four assists.
The Terps' trademark defense was on display for stretches of the game, forcing the Nittany Lions into 13 turnovers. Late in the game, Maryland held Penn State scoreless for a span of more than five minutes taking a 12-point lead in the final minutes.
Maryland held the Nittany Lions without a two-point field goal for the game's first 13 minutes.
Penn State (14-11, 5-9) was led by Kanye Clary (17 points) and Jalen Pickett (15 points).
From Coach Willard:
"I thought Jahmir (Young) got us back into the game and the second half, but he was expending a lot of energy on the defensive end. I just wanted to give Hakim (Hart) the ball hot, just to give Jahmir a break, and I thought he did a great job of just probing, being aggressive, and finding guys. Honestly, getting as close to getting to the basket."
(On Crowd): "This building rocks, man. It's really really helped us. The students are intuitively loud. We played Wisconsin, Purdue, Michigan State, and Iowa… every place is packed on the road. Michigan State was loud, Purdue was loud, and Wisconsin was constantly loud. Our building is loud. It's a great home court. You need it in this league because winning on the road in this conference is unlike anything I've experienced."
From The Players:
Jahmir Young: "Shoutout to Ike Cornish; he played (Jalen) Pickett yesterday and made it realistic. He was able to double and show him different reads. I'm just trying to make it tough for him and keep Hakim out of the paint as much as possible. He got going a little bit, but for the majority, and I felt like he did a good job."
Hakim Hart (On Crowd): "That's pretty big for us. The fans are our six men; when they get going, and we get going, so we feed off their energy."
Breaking Down The Action
- Maryland's defense was stellar early on as Penn State started the game making just one of its first 10 shots from the floor as the Terps held an 11-3 lead eight minutes into the game thanks to an 8-0 spurt.
- An Ian Martinez alley-oop dunk off a feed from Young on the fastbreak gave Maryland an 18-6 lead with 8:27 left in the first half.
- Penn State tied the game at 26 on a Lundy three-pointer with 1:38 left in the half as the Nittany Lions were in the midst of making eight consecutive field goals. A pair of Young baskets in the 1:08 left gave the Terps the lead back as they led 31-28 at halftime.
- After Penn State took a brief 35-32 lead a three-pointer by Jalen Pickett, Maryland answered to regain the advantage with nine points in a row capped by a Young three-pointer for a 41-35 lead.
- Penn State continued to stay within two possessions for much of the second half until the Terps reeled off nine points in a row to take a 64-52 lead with 2:30 left punctuated by an Ian Martinez dunk.
Sold Out On Red Out
- The game was officially announced as a sellout with 17,950 fans in attendance for Saturday's Red Out. It was the first time since March 8, 2020 against Michigan and the 141st sellout all-time in the XFINITY Center.
- That marked the largest true home game attendance in the Big Ten this season.
- Maryland has the second-largest arena capacity in the Big Ten and the 16th largest in the nation. Only Ohio State's Value City Arena holds more (18,809).
Double-Figure Update
- Hart (season-high 23 points) scored in double figures for the 15th game this season and 39th time in his career. This marks the seventh time in the last 10 games that he has scored 10-plus points.
- Young (16 points) recorded double figures points for the 11th consecutive game and 22nd time this season. This marks the 97th time in his career that he has tallied double figures.
- Reese (11 points) notched double figures for the 13th time this season and 20th of his career. He has scored 10-plus in eight of his last 10 games.
Home Cookin'
- Maryland has now won a program-record 10 consecutive Big Ten conference games at XFINITY, including all seven games this season and the final three of last season.
- The Terps' previous record was nine consecutive home Big Ten wins in 2014-15 - Maryland's first season in the league. In 2019-20, Maryland won eight straight Big Ten games.
- The Terps are 13-1 at home this season with the lone loss coming to No. 8 UCLA.
- This is the 29th consecutive year Maryland has won at least 10 games at home, dating to the 1993-94 season. It also marks the 17th time in the last 20 seasons to win 13-or-more home games and the 28th time overall in program history.
Fear the Jahmir
- With 18 points Young now has 1,824, 578 rebounds and 340 assists in 110 career games.
- Young is averaging 19.6 points over his last 10 games with 5.4 rebounds per game.
Donta In The Record Books
- Scott passed U.S. Olympian Steve Sheppard (1219 pts, 1974-77) and 2002 National Champion Drew Nicholas (1221 pts, 1999-03) to move into 33rd for all-time scoring at Maryland with 1,226 career points. Next up is Jim O'Brien who scored 1,235 points from 1970-73.
- Scott moved to No. 22 in career rebounds with 648. He passed new Maryland Hall of Famer Greivis Vasquez at No. 22 from 2006-10. Next on the list is Rod Horst who had 651 career rebound from 1967-70.
Series History
- Maryland now leads the series 16-13, winning the last two games after Penn State had won four in a row.
- The Terps are now 10-2 at home against Penn State with a 6-1 mark at XFINITY Center.
Notes and Nuggets
- The Terps are now 16-0 and have won 21 games in a row when leading at halftime.
- Maryland forced Penn State into two shot clock violations.
- The legendary Red Panda performed at halftime with her venerable bowls show.
Up Next
- The Terps will return to the XFINITY Center to host No. 1 Purdue next Thursday, Feb. 16 with a 6:30 p.m. tip on BTN and the Maryland Sports Radio Network. It will be the second meeting of the season between the two squads as the Boilermakers held on for a narrow 58-55 win over the Terps on Jan. 22 in West Lafayette.
