The No. 16 Michigan Wolverines are off to a great start. Maryland has momentum after beating the Wisconsin Badgers on the road. Who will win?
TV Schedule: Thursday, December 31, 8 p.m. ET, ESPN
Where: Xfinity Center in College Park, MD
Maryland basketball split their Big Ten road series with that victory over the No. 6 Wisconsin Badgers. That huge win was in large part due to the energy the bench displayed and the stifling defense they had on the Badgers’ two dominant big men Nate Reuvers and Micah Potter. Now, the Terps are up against local seven-footer Hunter Dickinson; the four-star recruit out of DeMatha Catholic High School (Md.) who is tearing it up as a Wolverine.
Heading into this matchup there was chatter from Dickinson and Gonzaga College High School (D.C.) Power Forward Terrance Williams Jr. They felt disrespected by the lack of interest Terps Head Coach Mark Turgeon showed in recruiting them according to 247Sports Jeff Ermann.
That may become an even bigger storyline if those two play at a high level on their home turf. Dickinson is proving to be a solid pickup for Wolverines Head Coach Juwan Howard. He is averaging 15.3 points and 8.4 rebounds per game shooting 69 percent from the field.
He is a handful in the paint. He can take on double teams and score, in one-on-one situations, he dominates and earns and-one opportunities. He earned his second double-double of the season with a 15-rebound and 13-point performance against the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Christmas Day. He serves as the Wolverines rim protector and has blocked more than one shot the last three games.
Isaiah Livers, Franz Wagner, and Wake Forest transfer Chaundee Brown are the other leading scorers with 15, 11, and 10 points per game, respectively. Brown is providing quality minutes off the bench. Livers continues to get better game-by-game and is a savvy, versatile veteran presence for the team. He was an All-Big Ten Honorable Mention last season.
Wagner is coming off of an impressive freshman year where he averaged 11.6 points and 5.6 rebounds per game. He shot the ball efficiently from the field (45 percent) and finished second on the team with 41 3-pointers. The Terps need to stay alert on both ends of the floor with him.
The last time these two teams played one another, Maryland basketball captured a share of the Big Ten Championship with an 83-70 win led by Anthony Cowan Jr., who finished with 20 points, eight assists, and four rebounds. Eric Ayala and Jalen Smith combined for 37 points and 18 rebounds. Aaron Wiggins scored 15 points off the bench. That game was the perfect ending for two players that made their mark in College Park.
The Terps are going to have their hands full trying to defend those guys but they have playmakers of their own. I said this before, Donta Scott (12.9 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 52 percent three-point shooter) is the alpha-male on this team. In every game now, he’s making multiple plays that cause you to sit back and say “wow, this guy is good!”
We are now starting to see the trio of Ayala (14.7 ppg, 3.3 rpg), Darryl Morsell (8.1 ppg, 5.0 rpg) and Wiggins (11 ppg, 5.0 rpg) come together and play the way the team needs them to collectively. Against Wisconsin, Wiggins and Morsell were huge for the Terps on both ends of the floor, and Ayala led by scoring inside and out.
The Terps need to find a way to contain Dickinson. Will they use the small lineup that worked against Wisconsin? Will they use man-zone pressure to make the Wolverines uncomfortable? When the Terps beat the Wolverines last season, they had more assists and fewer turnovers. Those will be areas to watch also.
Prediction: Michigan 74 – Maryland 79