Diggy Coit takes over, Maryland men's basketball wins first conference road game

Chase King
22 hours ago
3 min read

Diggy Coit made sure that Williams Arena witnessed the next episode of the Diggy Show as he completely took over in the second half to will Maryland to their first road Big Ten road win.

Maryland (9-14, 2-10) snapped its four-game losing streak on the road against the Minnesota Gophers (11-13, 4-9) in its closest Big Ten game of conference play, winning 67-62.

Both teams entered off of rough stretches, as Minnesota had lost seven of its last eight games and Maryland had lost eight of its last nine. However, Minnesota would enter the game with a bit of momentum, as they did win its latest game in a big upset against No. 10 Michigan State.

Maryland brought out the same lineup as they did against Ohio State on Thursday, with forward Collin Metcalf making his third start of the season and providing length to the Terrapins lineup.

True freshman guard Darius Adams would get the scoring started right away for the Terps as he made a three-pointer on the first possession.

Another freshman guard, Andre Mills, would also start the game off hot for the Terps, making his first three shots and scoring 8 points early for Maryland, helping them take a 17-14 lead in the first 10 minutes of the game.

Despite that, Minnesota would catch up and take a 33-32 lead into the half as Isaac Asuma and Bobby Durkin led the way for the Gophers, going 7-for-9 from behind the arc in the first half.

As a team, the Gophers only scored two points in the paint in the entire first half, but went 8-for-16 from three and got to the line for five free throws.

Maryland would make 5-of-14 from behind the arc in the first half and would find some more success inside as they scored 14 points in the paint.

But in the second half, guard Diggy Coit started to show out. Coit ended the first half with nine points on only five shot attempts, but would score 20 points in the second half, all of them coming in the last 13:09 in the second half.

“He was at the top of the game plan. He had 40 against Penn State he had 40 in another game. That's what he does. There was nothing he did that wasn’t at the top of the scouting report the last two days,” said Minnesota head coach Niko Medved.

Coit would score 20 of the Terps 35 points in the second half, with Darius Adams scoring eight as well, as he would find success inside and get to the free-throw line for four shots– something that he shined at early in the season.

Minnesota's shooting slowed down in the second half, only making 6-of-17 from behind the arc, with two of those being big shots down the stretch.

After making two three-pointers in back-to-back possessions, the Gophers led by four with less than three minutes to go. Darius Adams and Diggy Coit would both score to tie the game at 60 apiece before the Gophers took the lead at the free-throw line.

Coit would then take the go-ahead shot– a step-back three-pointer with the shot clock expiring.

The Terps would eventually win after getting a couple of stops and having Coit take some extra free throws.

Senior forward Solomon Washington also had a big day after expressing frustration following the home loss against Ohio State.

“I’m more concerned about the effort; we always get discouraged every time a team goes on a run,” said Washington. “We've got to stop that, it's basketball, it's a game of runs. We’ll never win games like this in the best league in the country.

Washington would be all over the floor against the Gophers, racking up 9 points, 10 rebounds (4 offensive rebounds), and three steals– many of them being down the stretch. He got the rebound and sealed the game after a missed Minnesota free-throw down the stretch.

The Terps will now look forward to hosting Iowa on Wednesday at 6:00 p.m., a team they previously lost to 83-64 in their first game of Big Ten play.

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