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  • No. 22 Maryland Jumps Ahead Early to Dominate the Louisville Cardinals, 79-54

No. 22 Maryland Jumps Ahead Early to Dominate the Louisville Cardinals, 79-54

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Basketball

No. 22 Maryland jumped all over Louisville early and often and cruised to a 79-54 victory as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. The Terps remain unbeaten heading into a big showdown Friday night against Big Ten foe No. 16 Illinois.

The Terps led 37-26 at halftime and opened up the second half on a shooting tear, knocking down each one of their first five attempts from behind the arc and pushing their lead to 20. Don Carey and Donta Scott knocked down two triples apiece. Maryland shot 6-of-11 from deep in the second half and made nine overall. 

Scott and Jahmir Young both had huge nights for the Terps. Scott led the way with 18 points, including a trio of threes. Young poured in 15, handed out a game-high five assists and added five boards. The two combined for 23 of Maryland's 37 first half points.

As they have been all season, the Terps were suffocating defensively. They forced the Cardinals into 13 total giveaways, turning them into 21 points off turnovers. Louisville only mustered 34 percent shooting from the field. 

Maryland is now 7-0 for the 10th time in program history and is one of 18 unbeaten schools remaining in the nation. 

Louisville dropped to 0-7 on the season. The Cardinals got 15 points from El Ellis.

Willard's Takes

"I thought in the second half our offensive intensity was really good. I thought we got really good inside-out threes and I thought we were a little more focused on the offensive end.

"I think (Scott's) getting used to me and what I want from him. I think he's getting used to the offense; I think they all are. He's playing at a really good pace and he's playing with a lot of confidence the way he should be. He's worked really hard and he's an All-First Team Big Ten player and he's playing like that."

"I think that was the best game (Jahmir)'s played for us…What I'm seeing is a young man who is developing very quickly into playing the point guard spot. He understands that it's his energy not only offensively, but defensively. I thought Jahmir played phenomenally."

Breaking Down The Action

  • Maryland jumped out to an 18-4 lead in the first seven minutes of play, including 13 straight capped by an Ian Martinez three-pointer from the corner. In that span, the Terps forced five turnovers out of the Cardinals which Maryland converted into 11 points.
  • The Terps led by double-digits for the majority of the half and went into halftime up 37-26. Scott hit a turnaround jumper, Julian Reese went one-for-two at the line and the Terps didn't let Louisville get a final shot off to finish a strong first 20 minutes for Maryland.
  • The Terps found their range to start the second half hitting a trio of triples to spark a 9-2 run extending their lead to 46-28 and forcing a Louisville timeout. Carey, Scott and Hakim Hart each hit a three during that span. Maryland added two more threes afterwards to push its lead to 52-32 at the 16:32 mark as the Terps were 5-of-5 from beyond the arc to start the half.
  • Maryland went on another 8-0 run, forcing misses on eight consecutive Louisville field goal attempts, and led 60-35 with 12 minutes remaining. 
  • The Terps were up by 30 at the under-eight media timeout and cruised the rest of the way en route to another dominant victory. 

7-0 Start 

  • Maryland improved to 7-0, marking the 10th season in program history to start with seven consecutive victories without a loss. 
  • Maryland started 10-0 for the 2019-20 season en route to winning the 2020 Big Ten Championship. Prior to that, Maryland's last 7-0 start was the 2016-17 campaign.

Only 18 Teams Remain Unbeaten

  • The Terps were one of 18 teams remaining who are unbeaten this season. Of those, four others played on Tuesday night, but all tipped off later than the Terps.

Wire-To-Wire Wonders

  • The Terps led wire-to-wire as they added to their season total of leading for all but 3:23 of game action over 280 total minutes of game action. 
  • Maryland has only trailed a 1.2 percent of game action through seven games. 
  • It was Maryland's fourth wire-to-wire win this season (Western Carolina, Binghamton, and Saint Louis).

Double-Figure Update

  • Scott (18 points) reached double-figures for the fifth time this season and the 50th time in 101 career games. 
  • Young scored in double-figures for the sixth time this season with 15 and the 81st time in his 91 career games.
  • Ian Martinez tallied 10 points for this second game this season in double-digits. It was his 11th career game with 10-plus. 

Scott Moves Up In The Record Book

  • With his 18 points on the night, Scott moved up to No. 55 for all-time scoring at Maryland with 1,037 career points. He passed John Gilchrist (1022 pts, 91 games) and Kevin McLinton (1024 pts, 91 games). Next on the list is current Oklahoma City Thunder guard No. 54 Aaron Wiggins with 1,052 points. 
  • Scott remains No. 40 all-time in program history for career rebounds with 527. Next on the list at No. 39 is Jay McMillen, who had 542 rebounds. 

Dynamic Duo

  • Donta Scott and Jahmir Young have combined for 30-or-more points in five games this season. The pair combined for a season-high 37 against Miami (24 for Scott, 13 for Young). Tonight they combined for 33 points.

Series Update

  • Maryland won for the third time in nine games against UofL and have now won three of the last four meetings with wins in 1992 and 2000.
  • Before tonight's +25 margin of victory, the previous high was 95-73 (+22) on Nov. 20, 2000.

ACC/Big Ten Challenge

  • This marked the final year of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Maryland evened its all-time record in the event to 12-12 as the only team to participate in the challenge as part of both conferences.
  • Maryland was 10-5 when competing as an ACC member and finishes the event 2-7 as a Big Ten member.
  • The win was the first road win (1-3) for the Terps as Big Ten members in the challenge. It also marked the first home loss for Louisville (4-1). The Cardinals finish the challenge with a 4-5 all-time record.
  • The 25-point win also marked the largest in Maryland's history of playing in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. The previous high was Maryland's 62-39 win over Penn State (11/29/10). Maryland also defeated Northwestern, 77-57, on Nov. 27, 2012 and Notre Dame (72-51) on Dec. 2, 2019.

Notes & Nuggets

  • Maryland improved to 72-13 in November games dating back to 2010-11.
  • Maryland held an opponent to 27 points or fewer for the fifth time this season as Louisville scored just 26 points prior to the intermission. The Terps held WCU to just 15 points, limited Binghamton to 23 points, and gave up 27 points to both Niagara and Saint Louis.
  • With an 11-point halftime lead tonight, the Terps have now led by double-digits in all but one of seven games this season. The only game they were not up by at least 10 points at halftime was the season opener against Niagara where they led 34-27.
  • Maryland shot 50 percent from the floor for the third time this season. The Terps shot .508 (32-63) against Saint Louis and .600 against Miami (30-50).

Up Next
The Terps host No. 16 Illinois on Friday, Dec. 2 at 9 pm in XFINITY Center for their first Big Ten matchup of the season. That game will air on Big Ten Network and can also be caught on the Maryland Sports Radio Network. Friday's game also serves as the Gold Rush game.