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The No. 24 Wisconsin Badgers face a familiar foe on Friday night inside the Kohl Center as the No. 21 Maryland Terrapins come to town.
Maryland (17-5, 8-3 Big Ten) withstood a second half onslaught from Wisconsin on Jan. 14, defeating the Badgers 64-60 in College Park, Md. UW overcame a 15-point first half in nearly getting the win but could not hold on to a brief one-point advantage with about two minutes left in regulation after a Brad Davison three. Anthony Cowan Jr. hit a critical three-pointer with 44 seconds left to retake the lead, and a couple of open shots late did not fall for Greg Gard’s squad.
Cowan scored a game-high 21 points in that win for Maryland, while freshmen Eric Ayala and Jalen Smith each recorded 11 points.
Sophomore forward Nate Reuvers went off for a then career-high 18 points in the loss, including having a huge offensive explosive in the second half that helped spark the Wisconsin offense—even without Ethan Happ for a stretch due to some foul trouble.
Now on a four-game winning streak since that road defeat, Wisconsin (15-6, 7-3) looks to exact some revenge on the Terps, and more importantly, keep up in the conference standings heading into two road contests next week.
Since Wisconsin-Maryland last played
The Terps have a 2-2 record since that home victory against the Badgers in mid-January. Wins against Ohio State on Jan. 18 and Northwestern on Jan. 29 were offset against losses to No. 6 Michigan State (Jan. 21) and Illinois (Jan. 26).
The defeat against the Illini, who are only 2-8 in conference play, was surprising but also came at Madison Square Garden.
Maryland team stats
- Points per game: 75.0
- Opponents’ points per game: 65.6
- Field goal percentage: 46.9
- Opponent field goal percentage: 40.6
- Three-point percentage: 36.9
- Opponent three-point percentage: 32.2
- Free throw percentage: 75.6 (best in Big Ten)
- Rebounds per game: 39.5
- Rebound margin: +10.3 (second in Big Ten)
- Turnovers per game: 13.3
- Blocks per game 4.7 (second in Big Ten)
- NCAA NET ranking: 22
Key KenPom.com stats
- Team rank: 20
- Adjusted offensive efficiency: 115.2 (20th in nation)
- Adjusted defensive efficiency: 95.1 (45th in nation)
- Offensive effective field goal percentage: 53.6 (69th in nation)
- Defensive effective field goal percentage: 46.9 (35th in nation)
- Defensive turnover percentage: 15.4 (331st in nation)
- Offensive rebound percentage: 35.7 (18th in nation)
- Defensive rebound percentage: 23.6 (18th in nation)
- Defensive free throws attempted/Field goals attempted: 25.1 (18th in nation)
- Offensive steal percentage: 10.9 (325th in nation)
- Defensive steal percentage: 7.2 (301st in nation)
Key Maryland playmakers
- Junior guard Anthony Cowan Jr.: 17.0 points per game; 4.0 rebounds per game; 4.5 assists per game (fourth in Big Ten)
- Sophomore forward Bruno Fernando: 14.9 points per game; 10.3 rebounds per game (second in Big Ten); 2.0 blocks per game (second in Big Ten); Recorded 13 double-doubles this season—best in the Big Ten; 66.5 field goal percentage (second in Big Ten)
- Freshman forward Jalen Smith: 11.9 points per game; 7.0 rebounds per game
- Freshman guard Aaron Wiggins: 8.6 points per game; 3.3 rebounds per game
- Freshman guard Eric Ayala: 8.5 points per game; 2.5 rebounds per game
- Sophomore guard Darryl Morsell: 8.4 points per game; 3.0 rebounds per game
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