Maryland men’s basketball narrowly escaped Nebraska, 69-66, Sunday at Xfinity Center.

The Terps led by nine points with less than four minutes remaining, but a 9-0 Nebraska run tied the score with a minute remaining.

Here are three takeaways from the game.

Queen’s up-and-down season continued

Less than a week ago, Derik Queen posted a season-high 27 points in a win over Minnesota, but followed it up with a nine-point, five-turnover performance against Northwestern Thursday. Instead of bouncing back, Queen’s stock continued to fall as he failed to make a single shot en route to a season-low three points.

His defensive play against Northwestern was heavily criticized, as he was consistently out of position and often did not keep up with his defensive assignment as they moved off-ball.

While his defensive effort marginally improved against the Cornhuskers, he was a nonfactor on offense. He did not command the ball on post-ups and lacked aggression when faced with a mismatch, resulting in his 0 for 4 shooting performance. And although he is a talented passer and recorded two assists Sunday, his turnover rate is far too high. He is occasionally careless with the ball and tries difficult moves that he has not perfected yet. He is averaging four turnovers per game over the last four games, including three Sunday.

Head coach Kevin Willard responded, benching Queen for eight of the final 10 minutes Sunday in favor of Jordan Geronimo, who played just two minutes against Northwestern.

Ja’Kobi Gillespie, Rodney Rice, Selton Miguel and Julian Reese picked up the slack, but Queen cannot put up duds if Maryland wants to consistently beat high-level opponents and win on the road.

Turnovers stalled the Terps’ offense

Maryland has protected the ball well throughout the season, committing 10.6 turnovers per game entering Sunday, fourth-fewest in the Big Ten. But the last three games have been a different story; the Terps committed 16 turnovers against then-No. 22 UCLA, 16 at Northwestern and 12 against Nebraska.

While Maryland started the game shooting 2-of-8 from the field, it took care of the ball — committing just two turnovers, both by Derik Queen — in the first 10 minutes, resulting in a five-point lead. But then the Terps got sloppy. They committed six turnovers in the following 10 minutes, which led to a near-five-minute scoring drought and allowed Nebraska to take a five-point advantage of its own. During the drought, Maryland was called for a 5-second violation fresh out of a timeout, highlighting coaching and execution lapses.

Luckily for Maryland, the Cornhuskers were not too sharp either. They committed nine turnovers in the first half — 13 total — multiple of which were just poor decisions rather than impressive defensive plays. Juwan Gary, Nebraska’s second-leading scorer, twice threw uncontested passes straight to Gillespie.

While Maryland cleaned up these issues in the second half and has overcome them at home, it’s been part of their road struggles and something it will need to address.

Maryland stumped Nebraska’s stars

The Terps struggled to contain Northwestern’s leading scorers Nick Martinelli and Brooks Barnhizer Thursday. Martinelli scored 22 points on 64.3% shooting, including the game-winner, while Brooks dropped 20 points and five assists.

But on Sunday, Nebraska’s top three leading scorers were all held below their season averages. Brice Williams, who averaged the fifth-most points per game in the conference with 18.9 entering the game, was subjected to more of a play-making role against the Terps, who assigned Rice to him for much of the game. Williams finished with 14 points on 6-of-14 shooting from the field and three assists.

Gary, coming off a 20-point game against Rutgers, posted one of his worst games of the season Sunday, recording just six points on 3-of-9 shooting from the field and two turnovers. He averaged 12.1 points per game prior to the contest.

Connor Essegian, Nebraska’s leading scorer off the bench, also totaled just six points, more than five points below his season average.

But the Cornhuskers saw production from a different source off the bench. Forward Andrew Morgan, who entered the game averaging 7.9 points per game, scored 12 of Nebraska’s first 24 points and finished with a team-high 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field.

While Morgan kept the Cornhuskers in the game, struggles from their top players ultimately led to their demise.

Riding a three-game losing skid and seeing its 20-game home winning streak snapped, Nebraska desperately needs to get its season back on track today at Maryland.

Here is what you need to know going into another daunting road test for the Huskers this afternoon in College Park…

Who, What, Where, When

Nebraska Cornhuskers (12-5, 2-4 Big Ten) at Maryland Terrapins (13-5, 3-4 Big Ten)

Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025 – 11:00 a.m. CT

Xfinity Center (17,950)

TV: Big Ten Network

Radio: Huskers Radio Network

Internet/Streaming: Fox Sports App

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Nebraska projected starters

Maryland projected starters

Maryland couldn’t build on a small winning streak, losing in overtime at Northwestern during the week. 

However, the Terps can get back on track on Sunday against Nebraska, who is in the midst of a tailspin after a strong start to Big Ten play. The Cornhuskers have dropped three straight in league play, most recently in a close home loss to Rutgers. 

Fed Hoiberg’s group has travelled well this season, winning two non conference games on the road, including against Creighton. Can the team make the trip to College Park and contend with an NCAA Tournament club in Maryland? 

Here’s our betting preview. 

Spread

Moneyline

Total: 145.5 (Over -104/Under -118)

Odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook

Nebraska

Brice Williams: Despite the three-game skid, Williams continues to produce. He has scored in double figures in all but one Big Ten game this season, including 30 points in December against Indiana and 21 against Rutgers on Thursday despite the loss. Williams will put a ton of pressure on the Maryland perimeter defense to stop him from getting to his spots on the floor as WIlliams has a 63% true shooting percentage. 

Maryland

Derik Queen: Queen showed on Thursday that he can do more than just pour it in the hoop, only scoring nine points in the loss to Northwestern on the road in overtime, but grabbing 14 rebounds. Queen is likely a lottery pick in the NBA Draft and will look to showcase his talent on Sunday afternoon. 

Maryland has been a dominant team at home this season, 11-1 on the year, but I like Nebraska to keep this one competitive in a matchup that suits the Cornhuskers well. 

First, Maryland is coming off a fairly grueling set of games that includes a come from behind effort against Minnesota and an overtime game at Northwestern. The Terps defense doesn’t do a great job of containing penetration, ranking bottom third in the country in average shot distance. That’s impactful against a Nebraska offense that is reliant on getting inside and initiating contact, ranking top 50 in free throw rate. 

The strong finishing of players like Williams can open up the floor for Nebraksa who is an average three-point shooting group on a healthy diet of threes. 

Meanwhile, the Nebraska defense does a good job on the glass and shutting off the interior, ranking fourth in the country in average shot proximity. For a Maryland offense that runs through Queen on the post, the team may need to look elsewhere on Sunday afternoon against the strong post defense of Nebraska. 

While Maryland may improve its home record, I think this game will be fairly competitive and the Terps struggle to get the necessary margin to cover the big point spread. 

PICK: Nebraska +7.5

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

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