Maryland vs Rutgers: 2019-20 college basketball preview, TV schedule

Maryland comes into the RAC on Tuesday looking to clinch the Big Ten title while Rutgers looks to defend their home court on Senior Night in another crazy B1G match.

Who: Maryland Terrapins (23-6, 13-5) vs. Rutgers Scarlet Knights (18-11, 9-9)

When: Tuesday, March 3 at 7:00 PM ET

Where: Rutgers Athletic Center in Piscataway, NJ

TV Schedule: BTN

Two teams at the bottom of the Big Ten’s football totem pole face off on the hardwood as two of the best in the conference, and the nation. In their first meeting earlier this year, the Terrapins came back from a halftime deficit (only a 5-point one this time) at home and managed to hold off the Scarlet Knights 56-51 in a tough, defensive battle. Neither team shot better than 34% from the field, and the Terps’ 3-point shooting and free throw advantage ended up being the difference-maker. The story likely won’t change much this go-around as the two remain some of the top defensive teams in the nation and both need strong wins.

Throughout the season, Rutgers’ biggest issue has been that they have not had a go-to scorer on their roster. Guards Ron Harper Jr. and Geo Baker have been the only two players averaging double-digit ppg for the Scarlet Knights and both struggled immensely against the Terps in College Park this season. Harper was held to only 6 points on 3-9 shooting while Baker was completely scoreless with only 4 shots in 19 minutes. The leading scorer for the Knights that game was grad-transfer Akwasi Yeboah who scored 13 points and hit the only 3-point buckets Rutgers scored as a whole. If the Scarlet Knights want to get revenge on their home court, they will need more consistent production from their leading scorers.

On the flip side, the Terrapins’ big storyline this year has been their ability to overcome huge deficits against all kinds of opponents and at home and on the road. These comebacks have been well documented and discussed, with the most recent being a 17-point comeback on the road against Minnesota in which the Terps led at the end of the game for under two seconds. Though they did it before against Rutgers, the Terps will need to avoid falling behind too big on Tuesday, as a comeback in the RAC would be up there for their most important comebacks this year. Of course, with how they often start games, that could just be what the Terps are going for.

Maryland goes to New Jersey looking to clinch at least a share of the Big Ten regular-season title for their first time since joining the conference. The Terps have always been at the top of the Big Ten standings, having only lost fewer than 12 conference games once, but have never been able to win it outright.

On the other side, Rutgers has a chance to clinch their first season at the .500 mark in since joining the Big Ten. A pleasant surprise with how well they’ve played this season, the Scarlet Knights have already won more games this year than they have since the 2005-06 season. They’ve done it through tough gritty defense and strong homecourt advantage, both of which will be key to upsetting the Terrapins.

For the Terrapins to get the road win and clinch the Big Ten title, they will need a third player to step up big time or solid production from several players. Potential Wooden Award-Finalists Jalen Smith and Anthony Cowan have and will step up in all the big moments this season, but at least one other guy needs to for the Terps to pull it out. One of Aaron Wiggins, Darryl Morsell, Eric Ayala or maybe another player will need to step up for the Terps in such a hostile environment. For Rutgers, they will need to try to slow down Cowan and Smith duo averaging over 30 ppg as much as possible (it really is to an extent) and force one of the other guys to beat them.

Overall, the showdown will be a hard-fought, gritty, and slow-paced game. Just pure Big Ten basketball. Both teams can struggle from the field at times so look for a low scoring match with the winner may be scoring 55 points. Rutgers struggles to score more so if they get an early lead of any kind they will need to prevent the Terrapins from making one of their soon-to-be-patented big time comebacks. The Terps will need to try to get a hot start early and shut down the Scarlet Knights’ leading scorers as before to get another win.

Final Prediction: Maryland – 52, Rutgers – 50