They would lose five of their final seven games and came into the NCAA Tournament as a 5-seed.
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And thanks to teammates who followed the senior forward’s cool lead, the Jayhawks are one step closer to the Final Four.
Big 12 fans are in for what should be an interesting match-up when top-seed Kansas faces a scrappy No. 5 seed Maryland out of the Big Ten in the NCAA Championship South Regional Semifinals this Thursday at the KFC Yum! The Jayhawks are looking to reach the Elite Eight for the first time since 2012, while the Terrapins are part of the Sweet 16 for the initial time since 2003. Duke’s Grayson Allen had a disgusting shooting night and combined with foul trouble from Marshall Plumlee and Matt Jones left Duke in a hole from the get-go.
It took time for the Jayhawks (33-4) to get going, but once they finally seized the lead late in the first half everything else fell into place for their 17th straight victory. Their defense proved to be too much for the Maryland frontcourt as they were able to control the Terrapins tempo and shut them down.
While Maryland was never out of the game, it also never led for the rest of the way. Trimble’s matchup on KU’s guards in Devonte’ Graham and Frank Mason will be interesting.
In the second round win over CT, it was Selden who led the Jayhawks with 22 points.
PERIMETER SHOOTING: Maryland has shot fairly well through two games (48.3 percent) but is just 10 of 41 from 3-point range.
Five players are averaging at least 11.1 points for Maryland, they are: Melo Trimble (14.8), Diamond Stone (12.7), Robert Carter (12.4), Jake Layman (11.7) and Rasheed Sulaimon (11.1).
The Jayhawks shot 46% from the field and dominated on the glass 43-28. “Our guys have been playing well and coming together at the right time so I am looking forward to some exciting basketball and hopefully we get it done”, said Kerry McCoy, the wrestling coach at Maryland. Some might say that the first weekend was a bit of a gift – only having to beat a 12 and a 13 seed – but I think if there was one big takeaway from the first two rounds, it’s that there’s no such thing as an easy tournament win.
Maryland coach Mark Turgeon agreed and said, “they were just great on defense”. The preseason ranking might have misled us, but they can play with the top teams in college basketball. Greene, who is his squad’s fifth-leading scorer, leads the Jayhawks in both free throw percentage (84 percent) and three-point field goal percentage (50 percent). The veteran presences of Perry Ellis and Wayne Selden have kept opponents frustrated and led the Jayhawks to 16 consecutive wins.
The Terrapins will need to correct their three-point shooting if they want to contend with the nation’s best tonight.
Maryland: The Terps made 5 of 25 3 pointers…. The start of the second half went right for us. However, the Raleigh native really hasn’t been incredibly lethal during Kansas’ two NCAA Tournament games.
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On the season, Maryland averages 76.1 points, 35.5 rebounds and 14.1 assists per game.
