When & Where: March 5, 2025 | 6:30 PM | Crisler Center
TV: BTN | Kevin Kugler, LaPhonso Ellis, Andy Katz
Radio: One Maryland App | 105.7 FM (Baltimore) | 980 AM (DC) | SiriusXM channel 211/196
Betting: Maryland +1.5 | O/U: 153.5 (FanDuel)
In the final week of the regular season for Big-10 basketball, 13th-ranked Maryland will travel to Ann Arbor for a showdown against 17th-ranked Michigan in a game that has great significance for final seeding in the Big-10 Conference Tournament next week. The race for the double-bye, awarded to the top four seeds in the conference tournament, is in the final stretch.
As the conference standings are today, Michigan is firmly a top-four seed even with their blowout loss this past Sunday against Illinois. They currently hold the #2 seed with a 14-4 conference record, only trailing their in-state rival Michigan State, who’s 15-3 conference record has them primed for the top seed in the present moment.
Three teams (Maryland, Wisconsin, and Purdue) all hoist a 12-6 conference record into the final week of regular season play with all three teams fighting for the final two seeds that earn the double-bye in the Big-10 Conference Tournament. Where it gets tricky is the tiebreaker rules in place that determine which two teams officially have the third and fourth seeds, respectively, as the conference currently stands.
After a team’s in-conference record, the next tiebreaker is the head-to-head record amongst teams with the same conference record. However, the Terps, Badgers, and Boilermakers each have a 1-1 head-to-head record against the other two teams. Maryland beat Wisconsin but lost to Purdue, Wisconsin beat Purdue but lost to Maryland, and Purdue beat Maryland but lost to Wisconsin. So the drama continues. After all, it is March.
The next tiebreaker is now the winning percentage for each team against the top ranked team in the conference, Michigan State. However, all three squads went 0-1 against Michigan State this season, meaning each team’s record “shall be compared to the team occupying the highest position in the final regular-season standings, continuing down through the standings until one team gains an advantage,” according to the 2025 Big Ten Conference Men's and Women’s Basketball Procedures for Conference Tournament Seeding.
This means we must continue down the conference standings until a tiebreaker is gained, or in this case, the winning percentage of each team against the only remaining team separating the Spartans and this bunch, which of course, is the Michigan Wolverines. This is why the battle later tonight between the Terps and the Wolverines is monumental.
Dusty May has been outstanding in his first season at the helm of the Wolverines with an identical 22-7 record to the Terps. Michigan also has an enforcing frontcourt duo like Maryland’s combo of Juju Reese and Derik Queen. First-year Yale transfer Danny Wolf leads the conference with 9.7 rebounds a game and just over 12 points a night. His 12 double-doubles rank second in the conference only behind Reese, who has 13.
"Just preparing like he’s kind of more of a guard. Just guarding him more of like a guard, and just stay in our own defensive principles or whatever and just playing our brand of defense,” Maryland big Julian Reese said when asked about defending Wolf.
The other first-year transfer big man, Vladislav Goldin, came over with May from Florida Atlantic and was a part of the Owls' Final Four team two years ago. Goldin leads the Wolverines with 16.1 points per game and a team-high 64.8 shooting percentage. All five starters for the Wolverines, just like Maryland, average double-digit scoring figures. The similarities between these two starting units make for a compelling matchup.
Michigan split their two matchups last week with a buzzer-beater victory over Rutgers and then a haunting blowout loss this past Sunday at home against Illinois. On the other end, Maryland loss an emotional showdown against #8 Michigan State last Wednesday on a more-than-half court buzzer beater at home and then salvaged the week with a road win against Penn State this past weekend.
The Terps struggled shooting the basketball in both games as a team, but Queen’s team-high 23 points and Reese’s 15 boards were the difference against the Nittany Lions. Gillespie and Miguel were also able to find some rhythm with 19 points and 17 points, respectively, but the rest of the team shot a combined 14.8% from the floor on Saturday.
Wednesday means something to the Terps, Wolverines, and several other teams across the conference. Both Maryland and Michigan have national championship aspirations, and a win on Wednesday would go a long way for the confidence of whoever comes out victorious.
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