COLLEGE PARK, MD – Selton Miguel scored a season-high 24 points as Maryland men's basketball improved to 9-2 overall after dominating Saint Francis, 111-57, at XFINITY Center on Tuesday. The hot-shooting Terps nailed 15 3-pointers, the second-most in a game in program history. Overall, Maryland shot 61.8% from the floor, including 57.7% from deep.
Maryland's 111 points were its most in a game in nearly 20 years, since the Terps beat Fairleigh Dickinson, 111-85 on Nov. 18, 2005. In winning by 54 points, Maryland now has six wins this season by 30 or more points, equaling the most in an entire season for the Terps since the 2002-03 season. Maryland achieved this feat in just 11 games. The last time Maryland won more than six games by 30 or more points in a season was in 1998-99, with nine wins by that margin.
After trailing 21-17 midway through the first half, the Terps, ranking No. 15 in the NCAA NET Rankings, outscored the Red Flash 38-8 run to take a commanding 55-29 lead heading into the locker room. Miguel poured in 17 first-half points, setting a new season-high.
Miguel became the fifth player this season to score 20 or more points for the Terps. The last time Maryalnd had five different players score 20 or more points in a season was 2015-16. Miguel shot 10-of-13 from the field, including 4-of-6 from deep, adding four assists and three rebounds.
Overall, five Terps reached double-digit points. Rodney Rice added 16 points on another excellent shooting performance. Freshman sensation
Derik Queen provided 15 points and five rebounds.
Julian Reese controlled the paint with 11 points, 12 rebounds, three assists and two steals. He earned his 26th career double-double. Since 1996-97, the senior has had the fifth most double-doubles of any Terp.
Ja'Kobi Gillespie (11 points and six assists) was the final Terp to reach double-figures.
The Terps have now won 22 consecutive home games against unranked non-conference foes. The last time Maryland lost to an unranked non-conference opponent was Dec. 1, 2021, against Virginia Tech in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
Saint Francis (4-9) was led by Juan Cranford Jr's 21 points.
Willard's Take
"He missed the summer because he had the chance to play for his national team, which was phenomenal," head coach Kevin Willard said about Miguel. "But that also put him behind what we were doing and how he was going to learn. I knew that going in. … But you're never going to pass up an experience to play for your national team. So it's just a matter of sometimes just got to be patient [and] let it happen. He's smart enough to know what was going on, and it was going to come through for him."
From The Guys
"This is my fifth year," Miguel said. "I've had four head coaches in five years. It's just trying to figure [it] out and just be me. I have a lot of conversations with Coach Willard. I told him I had a bad start, but at the same time, [I] just got to keep going every day, and just be humble and take what God gives me."
Breaking Down The Action
- The Terps sparked a 7-0 run, but Saint Francis drilled a deep 3-pointer on the other end to stop the run. Maryland led 17-16 at 11:20 in the first.
- Saint Francis briefly took the lead,d but a pull-up 3-pointer by Ja'Kobi Gillespie gave Maryland its lead back at 22-21 at the 8:54 mark.
- The Red Flash called a timeout shortly after the second media timeout. The Terps were in the middle of a 15-2 run, seven of which were scored while holding Saint Francis scoreless.
- Maryland went into the locker room leading 55-29. It marked Maryland's fifth game this season scoring 50 or more first-half points. Selton Miguel led all scorers with 17 points, already reaching a season-high.
- Maryland stretched its lead considerably with another 10-0 run. It led 80-45 with 11:56 to play in the game.
- The Terps closed the game by scoring over 100 points for the fourth time under head coach Kevin Willard and winning in a dominant fashion.
Double-Figure Factors
- Selton Miguel scored 24 points and earned his 69th career game in double figures. It was his eighth as a Terp this season and fifth in a row. He leads the Terps with 1,312 career points in his five-year career.
- Rodney Rice netted 16 points and scored in double digits for his 11th career game. It was his eighth game in double figures as a Terp this season.
- Derik Queen scored 15 points, scoring double-digit points for the 10th time in his freshman season. He also accomplished the feat in nine straight games.
- Julian Reese recorded 11 points for his 63rd career game in double digits. He has scored double figures for the seventh time this season and in six straight games.
- Ja'Kobi Gillespie scored 11 points and earned his 49th career game in double figures. It was his ninth game scoring double digits as a Terp.
Crushing The Competition
- Maryland won by +54 points, making it six wins this season by 30 or more points, equalling the most for the Terps in an entire season since the 2002-03 season. Maryland achieved this feat in just 11 games.
- The last time Maryland won more than six games by 30 or more points in a season was in 1998-99, with nine wins by that margin.
- Maryland also has eight wins this season by 20 or more points, the most in an entire season for the Terps since the 2015-16 season, when they had 10 wins by 20 or more points. Maryland achieved this in just 11 games.
- Over the first 11 games of the season, Maryland has beaten teams by a combined total of 298 points. It's the largest cumulative total scoring margin for the Terps over the first 11 games of the season since the 1994-95 season when the Terps outscored foes by +304 in the first 11 games.
Five 20-Pieces
- Selton Miguel led the way with a season-high 24 points. He became the fifth Terp this season to score 20 points in a game, doing so in Maryland's first 11 games.
- The last time Maryland had five different 20-point scorers was in 2015-16. The most 20-point scorers in a season was six in 2004-05.
- The other Terps to score 20 or more points in a game this season were Derik Queen (5), Julian Reese (2), Ja'Kobi Gillespie (2) and Rodney Rice (1).
- Overall, the Terps have had 11 20-point efforts this season.
Juju Beast
- Julian Reese scored 11 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for the 26th double-double of his career. Last season, he posted 15 double-doubles, the ninth most nationally, and stood second in the Big Ten during the regular season.
- Since 2010-11, Reese has had the most double-doubles for a Terp, and since 1996-97, he has had the fifth most. This was his fourth double-double this season.
- Reese moved to 12th on Maryland's all-time rebounds list. He now has 783 boards. He passed Ekene Ibekwe (781 from 2003-07) on the list.
- The big man also blocked one shot and now ranks ninth on Maryland's all-time blocked shots list. He has 137 in his career. He passed Travis Garrison (136 from 2002-06) and is closing in on eighth place Damonte Dodd (141 from 2013-17).
- He also ranks in the top 50 on the all-time scoring list, with 1,143 career points in his four-year career.
- Reese finished last season with an All-Big Ten Honorable Mention honor and was named to this season's Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award Watch List.
Home Cooking
- Maryland is 320-76 all-time at the XFINITY Center, including 35-8 under Kevin Willard. Under Willard, the Terps have six home Top-25 victories, highlighted by the 2022-23 win over No. 3 Purdue.
- Maryland won a program-record 14 consecutive Big Ten conference games at XFINITY, including all 10 games in 2022-23 and the final three of 2021-22.
- Maryland's 16-1 home record in 2022-23 was the best since 2019-20 and the eighth time overall that the Terps had won 16 or more games at home. In 2012-13 and 2014-15, the Terps won 18 games at home, going 18-3 and 18-1, respectively.
First Half Dominance
- Maryland led 55-29 at halftime, which was the 10th time in 11 games this year the Terps have led at the break (only trailed against Villanova).
- Maryland posted its fifth 50-point first half of the year: Mount St. Mary's (58), Canisius (59), Bucknell (51) and Ohio State (50) were the other 50-point first-half performances.
In The House!
- Several members of the Washington Nationals were in attendance, including rookie sensation James Wood, along with teammates Nasim Nunez, Trey Lipscomb and TJ White. Wood played basketball at St. John's College High School, where Terp great Anthony Cowan also played.
Numbers And Nuggets
- 2: Lukas Sotell scored his first bucket of the season.
- 5: Selton Miguel has five straight double-digit scoring games.
- 5: This was the fifth game this season five Terps scored in double figures.
- 5: This was the fifth game this season a different Terp scored 20 or more points
- 6: This was Maryland's sixth win by 30 or more points this season.
- 8: Maryland has allowed 30 or fewer points in the first half for the eighth time in 11 games.
- 15: The Terps are ranked No. 15 in the NET Rankings.
- 17: Ja'Kobi Gillespie has made a 3FG in 17 games in a row and 32 of his last 33 games.
- 18: The Terps have 18 10-0 or better runs this year, which leads the nation and matches last season's total.
- 22: The Terps have won 22 consecutive home games against unranked non-conference foes.
- 23: The Terps had a +23-rebound margin, out rebounding Saint Francis, 43-20. It was their second-biggest margin of year behind +30 vs Canisius.
- 25: The Terps had a season-high 25 assists for the second time this season, equaling the mark against Alcorn State.
- 26: Julian Reese posted his 26th career double-double,e which is tied for the third-most for Maryland since 1996-97. He is now tied with Terence Morris (1997-01) and current Chicago Bull Jalen Smith (2018-20)
- 111: Maryland's 111 points were its most in a game in nearly 20 years, since the Terps beat Fairleigh Dickinson, 111-85 on Nov. 18, 2005.
- 116: This was Maryland's 116th 100-point game in Maryland history and the fourth under Kevin Willard.
- 1,312: Miguel leads the Terps with 1,312 career points in his five-year career.
Up Next
- Maryland will participate in the Gotham Classic, where it will match up against Syracuse at Barclays Center on Dec. 21. The game starts at noon and will be televised on ESPN and Maryland Sports Radio Network.
