Which Big Ten team has the longest-running winning streak over Maryland?
Purdue? Wisconsin? Michigan State?
Wrong, wrong and wrong.
The answer is Penn State. Since the 2019-20 season, Maryland has beaten every team in the conference at least once — save for the Nittany Lions, who have handled the Terrapins four straight times.
Maryland (12-14, 4-11) will attempt to end the jinx on Monday night when it hosts Penn State (11-12, 6-9) in College Park, Md.
What’s unusual about the run is that in each of the past three years, Maryland has finished ahead of Penn State in the conference standings. In addition, the Terrapins have had the better conference record between teams entering each of the four meetings.
This time however, Maryland is looking up at Penn State in the standings. The Nittany Lions are coming off satisfying wins over Michigan State and Minnesota.
Thursday’s 67-46 victory was all about defense and physicality, as the Nittany Lions held the Golden Gophers to 32.1 percent shooting from the floor and outscored them 40-12 in the paint.
According to rookie coach Micah Shrewsberry, it was a blueprint for how Penn State can be successful.
“I hope there were a lot of people watching (on TV), and I hope there were a lot of people that turned it off,” Shrewsberry said. “Like, man, ‘I can’t watch this.’ But that’s the kind of style we want to play. We know how we defend, and we’re going to make you earn every single thing.”
John Harrar, a 6-foot-9, 240-pound bruiser who epitomizes Penn State’s lunch-pail approach, posted double-doubles in both wins.
Maryland is on an uptick as well behind Fatts Russell, who has a combined 47 points, 14 rebounds, eight assists and six steals in the past two games.
Russell had the Terrapins in position to defeat then-No. 3 Purdue before the team squandered a 12-point lead in a 62-61 defeat on Feb. 13.
On Friday night at Nebraska, Maryland finished strong in a 90-74 win as it made 52.5 percent of its shots from the floor and committed just four turnovers.
“It only takes one win to get it going,” Russell said. “I felt like this one was pretty good. We handled them for the majority of the game. … I feel like we’re building momentum at the right time.”
–Field Level Media
