Maryland (5-4, 1-1) vs. Alcorn State (1-8, 0-0)
When: Tuesday, Dec. 12 @ 7 PM
TV: BTN–Jason Horowitz, Christy Winters-Scott
Radio: 105.7 FM (Baltimore), 980 AM (DC), SiriusXM channel 381
Betting: Maryland -22; O/U: 143.5
After pulling off an 81-75 overtime win over Penn State last week, Maryland is back on the court on Tuesday night as they welcome fourth-year head coach Landon Bussie and Alcorn State into College Park. Maryland won the lone matchup between the two teams back in 1989 while this will be the first matchup against Alcorn State for head coach Kevin Willard as the Terps look for their 17th consecutive home win.
The Braves are led by Jeremiah Kendall, who enters Tuesday averaging 16 points and 4.8 rebounds per game, while Byron Joshua sits second on the team with 12.8 points and 3.4 assists per game. Jeremiah Gambrell rounds out the top performers averaging 10.5 points per game, but they’ll face yet another tough battle. Alcorn State’s lone win so far this year came in the season opener, a 70-65 win over Miles College, and has since fallen to Arkansas, Michigan State, TCU, Clemson and VCU.
For Maryland, that means another opportunity at a Quad 4 win as head coach Kevin Willard looks to see improvements before his team takes on UCLA next week, and more importantly, before conference play picks back up in 2024.
Maryland had to overcome an early double-digit deficit at home before taking a late second-half lead against Penn State. A foul by Jahari Long with four seconds remaining would give Penn State an opportunity to tie at 71, sending the game into overtime. The difference was the backcourt as Jahmir Young and DeShawn Harris-Smith combined for eight of Maryland’s ten points in overtime, securing the first conference win of the season.
The battle on the boards was the catalyst for Maryland’s turnaround as Maryland outrebounded Penn State, 53-31, including 23 offensive boards.
“It’s something we’ve been focusing on in practice really over the last two weeks just [because] we’re struggling so bad shooting the basketball that it’s got to be part of our offense a little bit, secondary offense off missed shots. With that, especially with that starting group with Jordan, Donta and [Julian Reese], that’s a pretty big rebounding crew and so we have to offensive rebound right now the way we’re shooting.”
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