Julian Reese made 9 of 11 shots as he delivered 21 points and 12 rebounds to lead hot-shooting Maryland to an 88-70 win over Minnesota on Wednesday in College Park, Md.
Hakim Hart tallied 20 points, six assists and four steals while Donta Scott added 18 points as Maryland (19-9, 10-7 Big Ten) improved to 9-0 at home in the conference.
The Terrapins made 68.1 percent of their shots from the floor and 7 of 13 (53.8 percent) from beyond the arc, getting little resistance from the Golden Gophers. Reese, Hart and Scott went a combined 22 of 28 on field-goal attempts.
Of Maryland’s 32 field goals, 20 came from the paint as they had repeated success with straight-line drives to the hoop.
Pharrel Payne scored 17 points off the bench to pace Minnesota (7-19, 1-15), which lost its third game in a span of five days and dropped its 11th straight overall.
Dawson Garcia had 15 points and eight rebounds for the Golden Gophers, who shot 48.1 percent from the field. Jaden Henley added 14 points, and Ta’Lon Cooper had eight assists.
Jamison Battle, who scored a career-high 39 points last season at Maryland and was coming off a 31-point effort Monday at Illinois, failed to score in the first half and finished with eight points.
It was the ninth straight win in the series for Maryland, which completed a regular-season sweep of Minnesota.
The Golden Gophers got off to a strong start as Garcia tallied seven points to stake Minnesota to a 13-8 lead. With Payne working inside for a pair of baskets, it was 20-20 midway through the first half.
The Terrapins then reeled off 15 straight points to take the lead for good. Coming off a 2-for-16 shooting performance in a loss at Nebraska, Scott triggered the run with a 3-pointer.
Then Hart took over, driving for a layup, hitting a 3-pointer and making a steal and an alley-oop feed in transition to Scott for a three-point play. Baskets by Reese and Young swelled the Terrapins’ lead to 35-20.
After taking just one shot in the first half, Maryland’s Donald Carey (10 points) hit a pair of 3-pointers and another basket in the first four minutes after the break.
Late in the game, Maryland stretched the lead to 27 points as Reese sank a layup.
–Field Level Media
