Maryland win second straight close game at Xfinity, squeezing past Washington 64-60

Chase King
19 hours ago
3 min read

Andre Mills, fresh off his career-high performance against Northwestern, shook the XFINITY Center scoring 10 of the Terps’ last 13 points as he led the Terps to their fourth conference win.

Maryland Men’s Basketball (10-16, 3-12) hosted the Washington Huskies (13-13, 5-10) and won its second straight close game in the XFINITY Center, etching out a 64-60 win.

The Terps are coming off a two-game road stretch in which they lost to two of the bottom teams in the Big Ten, Rutgers and Northwestern.

Maryland came out with the same starting lineup of Darius Adams, Andre Mills, Solomon Washington, Elijah Saunders and Collin Metcalf for their sixth game in a row.

They would continue their dominant stretch on the glass, outproducing Washington 14-to-4 on offensive rebounds and 36-to-23 in total rebounds despite Washington’s Hannes Steinbach leading the Big Ten in rebounding.

“When we play a dominant rebounder such as six, there's different language involved. And I thought our guys were tremendous in executing that,” said Head Coach Buzz Williams.

Maryland started the game 1-for-8 from the field, which allowed Washington to storm out to an 11-3 lead off the back of two Wesley Yates III three-pointers.

In the first four minutes of the game Darius Adams went 1-for-5 from the field, and Buzz Williams would make a change by subbing in Isaiah Watts and then freshman Guillermo Del Pino.

Del Pino would play his career-high of 27 minutes and finished with 6 points, 3 assists, while shooting 2-of-4 from three, and led the Terps by going +11.

“I think [Del Pino] helped us move the ball more than me,” said Mills, “Honestly, I think his presence and him playing those minutes really helped us today.”

“Personally, I thought [Del Pino] was the MVP,” said Williams. “I just think he understands space. I think the ball never sticks. I think he understands how to create a shot for somebody else, and there's a chance that he can make a shot.”

The Terps would ignite a 9-0 run that would give them back the lead with Watts and Del Pino on the court. They would run ahead with that lead and enter the half leading 34-32.

The two teams would continue to trade baskets in the second half, with Washington’s Steinbach and Zoom Diallo coming up big down the stretch to give them a late lead.

Maryland trailed 54-51 with six and a half minutes to go before Andre Mills would take over. Mills would make a go-ahead three-pointer with under two minutes to go, along with go-ahead free throws to put the Terps up 62-60, and would even put the lid on the game with an alley-oop in the final seconds.

Andre Mills finished the game with 21 points on 7-of-18 from the field and 3-of-6 from three with a career-high five assists while playing 39 minutes.

“I've always seen it with [Mills],” said Solomon Washington, “Last year, he used to give us problems, and we were a top 10 defensive team all year at Texas A&M.”

Washington had a big game himself, finishing with 11 points on 5-for-9 from the field to go along with 6 offensive rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and a block.

Maryland will now shift its focus to Wednesday, when they travels to the No. 9 Nebraska Cornhuskers for a 7 p.m. tip-off.

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