COLLEGE PARK – That was about as easy as Big Ten openers get for Maryland men’s basketball.
The Terps drained their first three 3-pointers, took a double-digit lead before the game was seven minutes old and owned a 33-point advantage at halftime before putting the car in cruise control and sailing to an 83-59 rout of visiting Ohio State on Wednesday night before an announced 13,793 at Xfinity Center.
Maryland junior point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie recorded game highs in points (23) and assists (four), and freshman center Derik Queen compiled 17 points, 11 rebounds and two steals for his third double-double of the season. Senior power forward Julian Reese pumped in 10 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals, junior small forward Tafara Gapare came off the bench to chip in 12 points and three rebounds and graduate student small forward Selton Miguel finished with 10 points and two rebounds,.
They contributed to a first-half performance of historic proportions for the Terps (8-1, 1-0 Big Ten), who extended their winning streak to five in a row. They face a greater test on Sunday at noon in West Lafayette, Indiana, when they will clash with No. 8 Purdue (7-1, 0-0).
Maryland’s 50-17 halftime lead was the program’s largest in a conference game since joining the league in 2014. The previous high was 28 in an eventual 88-63 victory over Rutgers on Jan. 6, 2016. The team’s 50-point output in the first half ranked as the school’s second-most in a Big Ten game since March 11, 2016 when that squad dropped 54 points in a 97-86 win against Nebraska in the conference tournament.
The Terps enjoyed their largest margin of victory against a league opponent since Feb. 4, 2023 when that squad destroyed Minnesota, 81-46.
Maryland men’s basketball vs. Ohio State, Dec. 4, 2024 | PHOTOS
Maryland’s explosion in the first 20 minutes of the game was rooted in a highly efficient outing from the floor. The offense shot 55.9% (19 of 34), and although their 3-point accuracy cooled (38.5% on 5 of 13), it dominated categories such as points off turnovers (18-0), points in the paint (18-10) and points off the bench (8-0).
The Terps received help from an opponent that looked dazed and bruised in that opening frame. The Buckeyes (5-3, 0-1) converted just 28.6% (6 of 21) of their attempts and whiffed on all seven of their shots behind the 3-point line. They also slipped into scoreless stretches of 4:28 and 3:07.
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Before the first media timeout at the 15:23 mark, 3-pointers by Gillespie (two) and Miguel (one) propelled Maryland to a 12-6 lead. An ensuing 13-2 run started by Reese’s four points and bridged by Gapare’s five points on a windmill dunk and a 3-pointer lifted the team to a 25-8 advantage buoyed by Ohio State sliding into a four-minute scoring drought.
Even when Reese, the Randallstown native and St. Frances graduate, picked up his second foul midway through the first half, the Terps simply turned to Queen and Gillespie. Queen, a five-star recruit from Baltimore, scored 11 points in the first 20 minutes, and Gillespie added seven to catapult the Terps to an overwhelming lead that would be too much for the Buckeyes to overcome.
Sophomore small forward Devin Royal amassed 18 points on 8 of 14 shooting (57.1%) and nine rebounds, and freshman point guard John Mobley Jr. came off the bench to add 15 points on 5 of 11 shooting (45.4%) and four rebounds for Ohio State, which dropped its second consecutive game. But they were the only Buckeyes players to reach double figures in scoring, and the rest of the team shot only 27.3% (9 of 33) from the court.
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