Maryland men’s basketball named 10-seed in NCAA Tournament

After a roller coaster of a season, Maryland men’s basketball is officially going dancing.

The Terps have made the 2021 NCAA Tournament field, named a 10-seed in the East region by the committee on Selection Sunday. They’ll face UConn in the first round on Saturday.

The Huskies hold a 4-3 edge in the all-time series between the two squads. They last played each other on Dec. 8, 2016, which Maryland won 76-66. UConn went 14-6 in the regular season, including a 11-6 record in conference play. The Huskies lost to Creighton, 59-56, in the Big East tournament semifinals.

Head coach Mark Turgeon’s squad was picked to finish 11th in the Big Ten and wasn’t projected to make the field for much of the season. Though it managed road upsets over Wisconsin, Illinois and Minnesota, Maryland had a 4-9 record to start conference play and almost fell below .500 multiple times.

But the team turned it around by stringing together five consecutive wins in February to end the regular season with a 15-12 overall record, including a 9-11 mark to finish tied for eighth in the conference. The Terps then notched a victory over Michigan State, 68-57, in its first game of the Big Ten tournament.

Turgeon has led Maryland to five of the last six NCAA Tournaments, not including last season being canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

If Maryland moves on to the Round of 32, it will face the winner of a matchup between 2-seed Alabama and 15-seed Iona on Monday. Michigan, who the Terps lost three games against this season, is the top-seeded team in its region.