Entering their only meeting of the regular season on Wednesday in Ann Arbor, No. 13 Maryland and host Michigan, ranked No. 17, have taken different routes to success in the Big Ten Conference.
Michigan (22-7, 14-4 Big Ten) is in second place in the conference with two games left, mainly because it’s been masterful in winning close games.
Michigan is 11-1 in conference games decided by four points or fewer, which is the biggest reason why it can win at least a share of the conference title with a win against Maryland and a victory at No. 8 Michigan State, which leads the Big Ten, in Sunday’s regular season finale.
Unfortunately for Michigan, its last game was anything but close, as it lost 93-73 at home to Illinois on Sunday and won’t have much time to regroup for its final home game of the season.
Michigan, which gave up 19 offensive rebounds to Illinois, is not particularly deep, but coach Dusty May doesn’t sense his players are wearing down.
“We’re in contention to compete for three more championships.” May said. “So if nothing else will motivate you or inspire you to get over that emotional or physical fatigue, then you’re not built for it anyway.”
For Maryland, it might be at the top of the Big Ten if it had more success in tight matchups.
The Terrapins (22-7, 12-6) have lost all six of their conference games by six points or fewer, with three losses coming by three points or fewer on late or last-second baskets by opponents (Northwestern, Ohio State and Michigan State).
Maryland might have turned a bit of a corner in its last matchup, a 68-64 win at Penn State to put itself in position for a double bye in the Big Ten tournament.
Maryland is tied for third with Wisconsin and Purdue entering Tuesday, and the top four teams earn a double bye.
While the Terrapins and Wolverines have taken different roads to success, they are similar in that they feature terrific frontcourt duos and don’t go deep into their respective benches for production.
The Terrapins feature the duo of 6-foot-10 freshman Derik Queen (15.9 points, 9.0 rebounds per game) and 6-9 senior Julian Reese (13.3 ppg, 9.4 rpg), while Michigan has a pair of elite 7-footers in junior Danny Wolf (12.4 ppg, 9.7 rpg) and senior Vladislav Goldin (16.1 ppg, 6.5 rpg).
Both teams mainly employ seven-man rotations and rely heavily on production from their starters.
Maryland receives 85 percent of its scoring from its starting five, while Michigan’s starters provide 76 percent of its scoring output.
“There’s just not a whole lot of shots to go around with those first five,” Maryland head coach Kevin Willard said. “Those first five are all guys that can score. So there’s no one on that starting five that I’m not going to tell to shoot, so I don’t know where the shots are going to come from (from the bench).”
