There was some glimmer of hope that the Terrapins would be more competitive in the ladder half of Big Ten play after back-to-back wins over Rutgers and Illinois a month ago. Since then came a five-game losing streak, including a trio of blowouts and giving up a whopping 110 points in a defeat to Iowa.
The skid ended last week against the worst team in the Big Ten, a 90-74 victory over Nebraska. Fatts Russell led all scorers with 23 points, one of six Maryland players in double figures. Then they were able to follow that up with a 67-61 victory over Penn State, led by 18 from Russell again. Although he has had his struggles this season, the senior transfer from Rhode Island has been a consistent source of production as of late.
The Terrapins are operating with an interim head coach in Danny Manning and while the two-game win streak is nice, it’s not going to be enough to give him the full-time job. The coaching search has somewhat cooled off as of late, likely to heat back up in the offseason. But a transfer pickup of Cashius McNeilly, a 6’4 guard formerly of TCU and Texas A&M. This is a program already looking towards the future but still has 5-6 games left to play and potentially play spoiler to potential bubble teams.