Maryland rolls in second half, beats No. 21 Northwestern 75-59

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — No matter what thepostseason holds for the Maryland Terrapins, they’ll be able topoint to some real accomplishments in Kevin Willard’s first seasonas their coach.

For example, they won all their Big Ten home games.

Jahmir Young scored 18 points and Don Carey added 13 to helpMaryland wrap up an undefeated home season in conference play witha 75-59 victory over No. 21 Northwestern on Sunday.

“Going 10-0 in this conference at home, that’s pretty impressivefor this group,” Willard said. “I just think it shows you how greatof a program this is, how great of a fan base it is.”

The Terrapins (20-9, 11-7) finished 16-1 overall at home, andthey used unusually impressive 3-point shooting to turn back theWildcats (20-9, 11-7). Maryland’s win also clinched at least ashare of the Big Ten title for No. 5 Purdue.

The Boilermakers (24-5, 13-5) now have a record 25 Big Tenchampionships, three more than Indiana, which is one of severalteams that can still tie Purdue at the top this year. Remarkably,Maryland and Northwestern also are in that group. The Terps havemade huge strides since Willard arrived from Seton Hall, and ChrisCollins’ Wildcats entered the AP Top 25 this week before losing toIllinois and Maryland.

“This league is hard. You play good teams,” Collins said. “We’renot down in any way. We’re still excited. We’ve got a big weekcoming up again, and you’ve just got to learn from these games andgo home and try to make it right when you get another opportunityto play.”

The Terrapins have not been a good 3-point shooting team thisseason. They entered their game Sunday at 31% from beyond the arcbut went 14 of 22 against Northwestern. Young and Carey made foureach.

The 6-foot-1 Young threw down an emphatic dunk to give Marylanda 35-32 lead. He later made a 3 at the buzzer to put the Terps up41-39 at halftime.

“I was feeling it from 3 early on, so just trying to get a shotup,” said Young, who scored 16 of his points before halftime.

Maryland was 8 for 11 from long distance in the first half, andboth teams were shooting around 60% from the field. The Terpsdidn’t regress much in the second. A 3 by Carey capped a 12-2 runthat put Maryland up 67-51, and it was smooth sailing fromthere.

Chase Audige led Northwestern with 16 points.

BIG PICTURE

Northwestern: Purdue’s recent struggles gave the Wildcats a shotat their first Big Ten title since 1933, but those chances took abig hit Sunday in front of a packed house at Maryland.

“We haven’t been good enough the last couple years probably tokind of warrant that kind of spirited crowd,” Collins said. “Theyknew this was a high-level game. They knew there was a lot on theline for both teams here late in the season.”

Maryland: The Terps went unbeaten at home in Big Ten play forthe second time. They also did it in 2014-15, their first season inthe league. Maryland made more than 10 3s in a game for only thesecond time this season. The Terps had 13 in a win over Saint Louisin November.

SENIOR SENDOFF

Willard said he tried to stay loose on a day Maryland honoredits senior class.

“I wanted to have fun. I never have fun on senior night. I’m anemotional wreck, and that goes off onto my players,” Willard said.“So the only thing I told them was I just wanted to have fun today.... I was going to have fun no matter what. We got blown out by 20,I was going to enjoy the fact that this group has worked reallyhard, and I was going to be appreciative of what they’ve givenus.”

UP NEXT

Northwestern: The Wildcats host Penn State on Wednesdaynight.

Maryland: The Terps play at Ohio State on Wednesday night.