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Maryland basketball seeks its third straight win and 22nd victory of the season Wednesday night as it visits Penn State. The Terps took down the Nittany Lions in a close battle in College Park on Dec. 1, and they’ll go for the season sweep in State College.
Things are going well for Maryland, who’s up to No. 17 in the AP Poll and No. 15 in KenPom. A team filled with underclassmen has gotten contributions from throughout its roster in recent weeks, and it’s in position for a Big Ten tournament double bye with just three games left.
“We’re very confident,” head coach Mark Turgeon said Wednesday. “We’ve gotten better in our halfcourt offense, our transition defense has gotten better, we decided to rebound again on Saturday, which was great. So a lot of phases are coming together; we’ve just got to be more consistent with it.”
One of the few areas still concerning Turgeon is turnovers. Maryland has committed 16, 16 and 15 giveaways in its last three contests, and with how few turnovers the Terps force (just 8.3 per game), everyone knows they can’t keep committing this many.
“I think it’s common sense. It’s just something that we know that we gotta get better at in order for us to be the type of team that we’re supposed to be,” sophomore center Bruno Fernando said. “As long as we clean up everything like that, just little things like turnovers, [we] should be pretty good.”
Penn State has turned an 0-10 start to Big Ten play into a 4-2 month of February, and Maryland has struggled in the Bryce Jordan Center in recent years. But the Terps are still slight favorites to pick up their sixth conference road win of the year. Lamar Johnson has the full preview here.
The numbers
No. 17 Maryland: 21-7, 12-5
Penn State: 11-16, 4-12
All-time series: Maryland leads 14-9
Previously this season: Maryland 66, Penn State 59
Odds: Maryland is a 1.5-point favorite
How to watch and listen
Wednesday, Feb. 27, 6:30 p.m. ET, Bryce Jordan Center, State College, Pennsylvania
TV: BTN — Brandon Gaudin (Play-by-Play), Shon Morris (Analyst)
Streaming: BTN2Go
Radio: 105.7 FM (Balt.) / 980AM (DC) / Sirius 98 / XM 195 / Maryland Sports Radio Network (Johnny Holliday, Chris Knoche)
In other news
Maryland football hasn’t made an official announcement, but it looks like the spring game will be on Maryland Day on April 27.
Baseball outlasted VCU for a midweek win in Richmond.
Women’s lacrosse visits UMBC tonight just three days after its dramatic overtime victory over UNC.
The Washington Post’s Emily Giambalvo wrote about Aaron Wiggins, who’s coming into his own late in his freshman season at Maryland.
Jaylen Brantley and Jared Nickens are suing the creators of Fortnite, which allows players to purchase the “Running Man” dance the duo popularized in 2016.
Kaila Charles just won Big Ten Player of the Week, and now she’s got a national award as well.
Our @CitizenWatchUS Naismith Trophy Women’s #POW @__KC5 got it done! Charles has been unstoppable with a recent average of 24.5 pts, 10.5 rebs, 2.5 ast, 2 stl + 2 blk #WhosNext #FearTheTurtle pic.twitter.com/cHSYdy2IuF
— The Naismith Trophy (@NaismithTrophy) February 26, 2019
Volleyball’s Katie Myers, Erika Pritchard, Allegra Rivas and Emma Schriner will attend Team USA tryouts in Colorado this weekend.
Softball’s Taylor Okada is leading all Division I freshmen in hits through three weekends. The Terps’ second baseman sports a .440 average from the leadoff spot.
Lil Tay, BIG numbers #FearTheTurtle pic.twitter.com/UbnMU7qyf1
— Maryland Softball (@TerpsSoftball) February 26, 2019