Maryland men’s basketball never left much doubt on Tuesday night after dominating Canisius from start to finish in a 108-37 finish.
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Maryland’s 71-point win marks the second-largest win in Maryland history, second to only the 75-point win over North Texas back on Dec. 23, 1998. The 108 points also mark the most since scoring 111 vs. Farleigh Dickinson back on Nov. 18, 2005, while it’s the third time that Maryland has eclipsed 100 points under Kevin Willard. The 37 points allowed were the fewest since allowing 32 against the American University of Puerto Rico 82-32, back on Nov 26, 1998.
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Maryland has won 18 consecutive games against unranked non-conference foes.
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Seven players finished in double figures, led by Julian Reese’s (20 points, 12 rebounds) first half double-double, as Rodney Rice drew his first career start with DeShawn Harris-Smith coming off the bench in the win. Maryland forced 15 first-half turnovers and held Canisius to 22.7% shooting from the field through the first half and led by as many as 47 points in the first half.
"I think I made a big mistake the other night not playing the bench more," head coach Kevin Willard said after the win. "I thought down the stretch we weren't able to get stops against Marquette because I just kept guys out there too long. So no matter what, I was going to make a conscious effort and make sure we got to the bench."
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Yet it was Canisius who opened the game with a deep triple, a sequence that proved to be rare inside Xfinity Center. Maryland would then take its first lead of the game after Rodney Rice connected on a pair of free throws then Selton Miguel drained a triple -- and Maryland never looked back.
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Canisius guard Paul McMillian IV hit a layup four minutes into the game, cutting the Terps’ lead to 18-6, but it'd be the last points for Canisius for nearly ten minutes as the Terps went on a 28-0 run during that stretch.
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Maryland jumped out to an early 16-4 lead after forcing six Canisius turnovers, including a pair of ten-second violations thanks to the Terps’ fullcourt defense to start the night. All five Maryland starters scored within the first six minutes of the game, and clinging to a 16-point lead, Willard turned to his bench with DeShawn Harris-Smith, Jay Young and Tafara Gapare subbing in for Ja’Kobi Gillespie, Miguel and Queen.
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And heading into the final TV timeout of the first half, everyone except for Tafara Gapare had scored at least one field goal.
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Maryland took a 59-14 lead into halftime, Maryland’s largest lead at halftime since 2000.
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Eleven different Terps scored in the second half as Maryland extended their lead to as many as 71 points in the second half. Walk-on Ben Murphy hit a triple with just over two minutes remaining.
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In the end, Chance Stephens was in street clothes and ruled inactive on Tuesday while Jordan Geronimo was the lone Terp to not suit up.
"He had a slight bruise yesterday in practice. He could have played. I watched him in warmups and was just kind of like -- we had Villanova, Bucknell, Alcorn [State] and Big Ten play coming up...when I say game-time decision, I didn't make the decision until about the last minute, but he's okay," Willard added.
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