Maryland Basketball: Sweet Sixteen Bound

The #5 seed Maryland Terrapins had another nail biter of a contest in the NCAA Tournament against the #13 seed Hawaii Rainbow Warriors.

As the game pressed on, it looked as if the Terps would let their woes from the 3-point line get to them. However, Maryland marched to a healthy 73-60 victory and are Sweet Sixteen bound.

The Terps were trailing Hawaii during the middle of the second half, but suddenly, a sleeping giant was awakened. Maryland scored 19 of the next 22 points. For a certain stretch, they had scored 14 unanswered points.

”That stretch in the second half was a big hammer,” Hawaii coach Eran Ganot said of Maryland’s run.

Maryland will advance to their first Sweet Sixteen appearance since 2003 and will meet the #1 seed Kansas Jayhawks. This is also the Terps’ eighth appearance in the the past 22 seasons.

Sophomore point guard Melo Trimble led the Terps in scoring with 24 points and eight rebounds. He went 5-for-14 from the field and was 1-6 from the 3-point line. He actually broke the 0-15 miss streak that Maryland was on at the time.

”When I made that 3, I felt great,” Trimble said about his game-changing 3-pointer.

”When that shot went down, it made everybody loose,” said Maryland’s Rasheed Sulaimon, who gave the Terps 14 points from the shooting guard position.

Freshman center Diamond Stone also added 14 points for Maryland.

Mike Thomas had 19 points and 11 rebounds for 13th-seeded Hawaii (28-6), a team who won a tournament game for the first time this season.

Maryland won the free throw battle, where they hit 28 of 31. Hawaii had only 15 attempts, making 10.

”I’m very proud of our program,” said Ganot, who led Hawaii to a record for wins in his first season as head coach. ”They galvanized the state.”

The Excitement of Terp Nation

Terps fans, press, and administration all had fun with the win over Hawaii and the Terps’ subsequent Sweet Sixteen berth.

News anchor for WUSA 9 in Washington D.C. Kristen Berset:

University of Maryland athletic director Kevin Anderson:

And SB Nation:

The Terps (27-8) will play against the Kansas Jayhawks (32-4) on Thursday, March 24 at the KFC Yum! Center, located in Louisville, Kentucky.

Next: Story of the Terps and Jackrabbits

Mark Turgeon, who was a former guard for Kansas, played there from 1983 to 1987 and worked on Larry Brown’s staff in 1988, during the Jayhawks’ national championship run that season. He is in his fifth season as Maryland’s head coach. When asked about Kansas, Turgeon had this to say:

“They’re the best team in the country. We’ve got a quick turnaround to play on Thursday night, but we’re excited to be in the game.”