Maryland Basketball: Terps get huge upset over No. 6 Wisconsin Badgers

Maryland basketball needed to dig deep to beat a top-10 team in the Wisconsin Badgers and they got it done on the road.

Maryland basketball traveled to Madison, Wisconsin looking to upset the No. 6 Wisconsin Badgers after losing a nail-biter to the Purdue Boilermakers.

The Badgers defeated the No. 17 Michigan State Spartans in the Breslin Center 85-76 behind 29 points from their floor general D’Mitrik Trice.

They have been a stout defensive team to this point in the 2020-21 season as they lead the Big Ten in opponent points per game with 59.6. They are second in the conference in opponent field goal percentage (37.5 percent).

Both of these teams struggled to make shots leading to a low-scoring first half. That worked to the Terps benefit because they found themselves down four, 28-24, in the first half.

Chol Marial is steadily improving and we saw that against two of the best big men that the Big Ten has to offer in Nate Reuvers and Micah Potter. There was an instance where Marial was up against Potter in the post, looked like he was going to be beaten, but he recovered to alter Potter’s shot from close range.

Maryland’s defense as a unit made those guys uncomfortable all game in the paint and it helped Maryland stay afloat. There were six ties and 10 lead changes with under eight minutes left in the game. The Terps took a 57-52 lead down the stretch thanks to buckets from Eric Ayala and Jairus Hamilton.

On the defensive end of the floor, Darryl Morsell got a key stop to set up a dribble-drive two-handed slam by non-other than Donta Scott. The Maryland bench erupted after that highlight and has been a good source of energy for the team over the last few games.

Maryland basketball got the 70-64 upset win behind Ayala’s 17 points, four rebounds, and two assists. Trice had a game-high 25 points, four rebounds, and three assists. The Terps shot 64 percent from the field and made 11-of-12 free-throw attempts. Free throws had been a problem for them lately, but they capitalized when it mattered most.