Mike Thomas had 19 points and 11 rebounds for 13th-seeded Hawaii (28-6), which won a tournament game for the first time this season. But scuffle the Terps did in Big Ten play, especially at season’s end, and a 1-4 record against Michigan State, Indiana and Purdue doomed them to the unsafe ground of a No. 5 vs. No. 12 matchup.
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According tooddsmakers at Bovada.lv, Maryland is favored in today’s game, as the Terrapins are getting odds of -7 points against Hawaii. Then the bottom fell out.
Hawaii pressed and tried to close the margin, but the teams traded baskets the rest of the way.
Hawaii is 28-5 overall, 5-0 on a neutral floor and 15-12 against the spread.
Neither team shot well.
A 12-2 run was capped off by Maryland’s first made three-pointer of the game after it went 0-of-15 from deep. Hawaii shot 33 percent. Hawaii, which beat Long Beach State in the Big West tournament title game to clinch its first trip to the Big Dance since 2002, will need a complete game from Jankovic in order to keep the taller Terrapins off the glass. Robert Carter kept the onslaught going, drawing the blocking call and converting the and-one to move the lead to 53-41.Trimble scored 14 of his 24 points in the second half, including 13 of 14 from the free throw line. Back to back dunks from Diamond Stone and Jake Layman, a one-hand slam in transition giving the Maryland crowd some energy, gave the Terrapins a lead it wouldn’t relinquish. In December, the NCAA slapped his program with sanctions for infractions committed under former coach Gib Arnold. The Rainbow Warriors are a poor shooting team from 3-point range but feature a veteran backcourt in Bobbitt, Quincy Smith and Aaron Valdes, the team’s second-leading rebounder.
Impressive at times and sloppy at others here in the opening two rounds of the NCAA tournament, Maryland held off South Dakota State 79-74 and against Hawaii looked equally erratic.
Maryland: All five Maryland starters average in double figures, between 14.4 and 11.1 points per game…
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As expected, the Kansas Jayhawks have advanced to the Sweet 16 in the 2016 NCAA Tournament.
