Maryland men’s basketball rallies to beat Minnesota, 77-71

COLLEGE PARK — Maryland men’s basketball avoided the dreaded letdown — barely.

After enjoying the highs of upending then-No. 22 UCLA Friday night, the Terps needed a furious comeback in the second half to circumvent what could have been a debilitating setback and defeat visiting Minnesota, 77-71, on Monday night before an announced 10,271 at Xfinity Center.

Freshman center Derik Queen, a Baltimore resident, led the way for Maryland (13-4, 3-3 Big Ten) with a game-high 27 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Sophomore shooting guard Rodney Rice compiled 21 points, two rebounds and two assists, and junior point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie amassed 15 points, seven assists and five rebounds to propel the Terps to their fourth win in the past six games and 11th victory over the Golden Gophers in the past 12 meetings.

Minnesota senior power forward Dawson Garcia racked up 19 points, six rebounds and two steals but was limited to seven points in the second half while dealing with four fouls. Senior point guard Lu’Cye Patterson chipped in 15 points, five rebounds and three assists, and freshman point guard Isaac Asuma came off the bench to add 15 points and two rebounds. But the Golden Gophers (8-9, 0-6) lost to their ninth consecutive Big Ten opponent and haven’t earned a league victory since beating Penn State on March 2.

Trailing 35-32 at halftime, the Terps started slow and could only watch as the Golden Gophers scored seven of the second half’s first 10 points to inflate their advantage to 42-35.

That’s when Rice began to get hot. He scored seven consecutive points to fuel a 16-4 run for Maryland, and when Gillespie drained a 3-pointer from the right corner to put the Terps ahead, 49-46, that marked their first lead since the score was 14-13 less than six minutes in.

Not to be outdone, Queen scored six points in a row twice, and Rice scored the team’s final seven points — five on free throws.

The trio of Queen (18 points in the second half), Gillespie (14) and Rice (8) provided much of the Terps’ punch in the frame. They combined to score 40 of the offense’s 45 points in the final 20 minutes.

Maryland induced Minnesota into committing a season-high 16 turnovers, which the Terps converted into 15 points. That total exceeded the 15 giveaways the Golden Gophers made in an 80-59 loss at Wisconsin on Friday.

Entering the game tied for second to last in 3-point efficiency (31.5% on 105 of 333 shooting), the Golden Gophers found their rhythm in the first half. They connected on 5 of 9 shots (55.6%) from long distance.

Minnesota made its first four shots from behind the 3-point line to assume a 16-14 lead. After Asuma missed a 3-pointer, he hit the team’s fifth in its first six attempts to inflate the advantage to 19-14 midway through the first half.

Maryland, which usually induces opponents into long scoring droughts, could not maintain much semblance of offense in the frame. The offense went cold for 4:11 and 2:55 — the second of which the Golden Gophers capitalized on by using an 8-2 burst for a 33-25 lead.