It wasn’t a 40-point win like the Michigan Wolverines have been used to, but they put together a strong second half to take down the Maryland Terrapins, 101-83, on the road Saturday night.
Maryland
Maryland out slugs Illinois, sets up deciding game three – WMUC Sports
Devin Russell watched as the ball he just hit sailed toward the left field foul pole. The ball curved about 20 feet from the pole landing in foul territory and causing Russell to head back to the plate. A couple of pitches later Russell looked up again, this time paying witness to a go-ahead two-run home run.
“It’s never a good feeling when you hit a foul ball home run because you feel really good seeing it go and then it’s just a long strike and then usually in baseball when you hit a foul ball home run you don’t hit a home run in the same at-bat,” Russell said postgame. “Yeah I got lucky and I got a good pitch to hit.”
Maryland (27-17, 7-10 Big Ten) scored eight runs in the first three innings to help beat Illinois (25-14, 11-3 Big Ten) in the second game of the weekend series, 9-8.
Russell’s fifth home run of the season put Maryland ahead, 7-5, after the Illini tied the game in the top of the third. Russell finished the game batting one for four with the two RBIs and registering one of Maryland’s seven hits with two outs.
The Terps two-out hitting was a common occurrence in the first third of the game. The Terps scored two of their four first inning runs with two outs to go along with Russell’s two RBI. Kevin Keister and Michael Iannazzo came up with the two-out RBIs with a double and single respectively.
Eddie Hacopian added to the two-out RBI category with a RBI double to left center in the bottom of the seventh breaking a scoreless three-inning stretch for Maryland. Eddie is four for nine this series.
Maryland’s offense finished the game with 11 hits, four walks, and four hit-by-pitches. Five of the hits were for extra bases. Maryland only struck out five times which is a big improvement for a team which came into the weekend second in the Big Ten in strikeouts.
“When you’re putting pressure on teams and you’re not punching in those situations and, you know, balls are going to be put in play, you know, if you’re striking out a lot and not having a good approach and, you know, you’re not going to have those chances,” head coach Matt Swope said.
The starting pitching for both sides in this game wasn’t ideal as both head coaches pulled their starters before the fourth inning. Illinois starter, Cooper Omans, made it through only an inning giving up five earned runs. Maryland’s starter, Omar Melendez, lasted only two and two thirds innings giving up the same amount of earned runs.
The two performances strayed from the norm for both pitchers, especially coming off impressive performances their last time out. Omans threw seven innings of one run ball against Northwestern in his prior start and in Melendez’s first Saturday start as a Terp he pitched six innings allowing two earned runs.
Due to the lack of success of the starters, the game quickly turned into a battle of the bullpens and Swope’s first move was to bring out former Friday starter Kenny Lippman. Lippman pitched well, giving up only one run in his four and a third innings pitched. Lippman struck out five hitters and walked only one, holding Illinois scoreless for three innings.
“Testament to him he’s been pretty good the last couple outings so he did a great job kind of stabilizing the wild first three and four innings right there,” Swope said.
Logan Berrier took over for Lippman in the eighth and struggled to put away the Illinois lineup. Berrier gave up two hits and walked two in the top of the eighth allowing the Illini to cut Maryland’s, 9-6 lead, down to one.
Berrier stayed on to pitch the ninth and allowed the lead-off hitter to reach base via a base hit. The next batter laid down a sacrifice bunt moving the runner into scoring position, but it didn’t matter. Berrier struck out the remaining two hitters to end the game.
Maryland’s pitching allowed 15 hits — only three for extra bases — and four walks while striking out eight batters. Maryland’s arms continued to struggle against Camden Janik who is now five for eight this series.
Maryland will have a chance to win the weekend series on Sunday in the series rubber match. The Terps are 3-0 on Sunday at home this season.
Related
Maryland
See Snowfall Totals By Town In Maryland
December’s first winter storm brought varying amounts of snow to parts of Maryland, from an inch at Baltimore-Washington International Airport to 6 inches in parts of Baltimore County, according to preliminary snowfall totals from the National Weather Service.
Numerous school districts and government offices opened late on Monday due to the storm’s impact on area roads.
The snowfall has ended, and the National Weather Service said the forecast for the coming week shows no chance of a white Christmas, so far, with high temperatures reaching the 50s at least two days.
Here are snowfall totals, in inches, reported by the National Weather Service as of Monday morning for portions of Maryland:
Anne Arundel County
Maryland
Frigid temperatures to start the week in Maryland
Maryland
4 takeaways from Michigan Basketball’s 101-83 win at Maryland
The Wolverines haven’t had a true road test in over a month, and it took 30 minutes to shake off the dust. While Maryland had a strong night from the three-point line to flirt with an upset, Michigan stuck to its game plan and went on a run in the final 10 minutes of the contest to win the game.
There is a lot to unpack, so here are four takeaways:
David “Diggi” Coit legacy first half
The Terrapins gave Michigan its first deficit going into halftime this season, and it can be largely thanks to point guard David “Diggi” Coit. The Northern Illinois and Kansas transfer was on another level in the first half, scoring 22 points on 7-for-13 shooting, including six makes from three.
Coit wasn’t just sitting in the corner either. He was creating his own shot from everywhere on the hardwood, going up against Michigan’s Elliot Cadeau, Yaxel Lendeborg, and even hitting one in the face of Morez Johnson Jr., all of whom are taller than the graduate transfer.
He continued his hot streak to start the second half, but eventually cooled off and finished with 31 points. It was a remarkable showing, and it should be a good sign for the Terrapins going forward if he can produce every night like Saturday.
As for Michigan, it was a good test to face a player who could not miss for a half, and learn how to adjust at halftime to take away the threat. It will happen again, and as Dusty May always says, it is better for it to happen now than in March.
Michigan hasn’t played a close game since Nov. 14. Its reserve players have seen a ton of action, but it came at the expense of the Wolverines having to put games away at a consistent rate. While Maryland put the pressure on Michigan for 30 minutes, the final 10 are what gives May confidence in a potential national championship for this team.
The Wolverines shot 8-for-10 from the field to balloon their lead from five to 15 in a matter of minutes. It was an uncomfortable, yet promising finish for the Wolverines.
When many top teams would start forcing shots, Michigan continue to attack the paint and get the ball in the hands of its go-to players, capitalizing on a Maryland cold streak to go from a deficit to a double-digit lead late in the game.
There are a lot of talented teams on Michigan’s schedule, and there will be a few more matchups with spunky teams like Maryland that will force the Wolverines to lock in. They passed this test and can rest easy as they face some lighter non-conference opponents before the New Year.
When Michigan has needed a spark since its tournament in Las Vegas, the Wolverines have turned to their top transfer portal get — Yaxel Lendeborg. He led Michigan scorers with 13 points in the first half, but coming out of halftime down seven points, he was on a whole other level. Lendeborg put the ball in his own hands with 20 minutes to go, scoring 10 straight points to start the second, bringing Michigan within one point.
As Maryland continued to keep pace, Lendeborg would not let up and put together seven more points to get to 29 points for the night and 16 for the half with 11 minutes still to go.
When Maryland started double-teaming Lendeborg, he started spreading the wealth and giving his teammates open-opportunities. Elliot Cadeau knocked down a couple of shots, L.J. Cason made back-to-back threes and Mara was putting on a show with reverse dunks and alley-oops. Before long, Michigan held a 15-point lead.
While it was tough-sledding for most of the team in College Park, Michigan showed it only needed a couple of guys to be in rhythm to keep pace and even lead opponents who were having their best shooting night.
Michigan continued dominance in the paint
You can try to beat Michigan with the three-ball, but it is going to be very hard to claim ultimate victory if you can’t stop it in the paint. The Terps shot 55 percent from behind the arc in the first half and 48 percent in the second half, but Michigan didn’t mess around down low in the paint.
The Wolverines dominated Maryland, 20-10, in the paint in the first half, and put on an even stronger showing in the second with 24 points down low. It didn’t help that Maryland best front court player, Pharrel Payne, went down with a knee injury in the first half. As a result, Michigan quietly continued to grow its lead when the Terps’ threes stopped falling.
Between Mara, Will Tschetter, Johnson and Lendeborg, the options are limitless for the Wolverines in the post.
After gritting it out to stay undefeated, Michigan heads back home and will get a week off before facing La Salle on Sunday, Dec. 21 (4 p.m., BTN).
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