Coming off three straight wins, No. 20 Maryland is home at a raucous XFINITY Center for this late evening showdown between Maryland and USC. The game is nationally televised on FOX’s FS1 sports channel at 8:30 PM.
Maryland has won seven of its last eight games, has six Quad 1 victories,
and has three top-25 wins on its resume for the season. The Terps are ranked
No. 12 in the NCAA NET, No. 14 in the Kenpom ratings, No. 14 in the Torvik
ranking, No. 12 on EvanMiya.com, and No. 15 on the ESPN BPI.
At home this season, the Terps have won 12 straight games including seven
consecutive Big Ten games. Three of Maryland’s final five regular-season
games will come at home. The Terps are 15-1 at home this season, tied for the third-most wins among all Division I schools. Only St. John’s (16-0) and Missouri (16-1) have more.
Maryland is averaging 83.5 points per game and are outscoring opponents by
16.3 points per game. The bulk of Maryland’s offense has been bolstered by
fast starts as the Terps average 41.7 points in the first half of games. That ranks
fourth nationally and is the best average for a Big Ten team over the last 15
seasons.
Maryland is one of four major conference programs with all five starters scoring
double-figures while starting at least 50 percent of the team’s games. Joining
the Terps are Arizona State, Kentucky and Michigan. The Terps’ starting five,
known as “The Crab Five” on social media, consists of: Derik Queen (16.0),
Ja’Kobi Gillespie (14.7), Julian Reese (13.8), Rodney Rice (13.4), Selton Miguel
(12.0). They are also the team’s five leading scorers with a combined scoring
average of 69.9, the highest among all major conference programs.
