Maryland men's basketball shines as UCLA continues to spiral
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – The Maryland Terrapins dismantled No. 22 UCLA Bruins, 79-61 at the Xfinity Center on Friday night.
The Terps needed to bounce back after losing their previous two conference contests on the west coast against No. 9 Oregon and Washington. UCLA also entered this game after losing their last two against Nebraska and No. 24 Michigan.
After their last loss against Michigan, Coach Mike Cronnin called the team “soft” and “completely delusional about who they are” while stating, “I have more passion, energy, and pride, and that’s the problem.”
The Terps jumped out to a 7-2 advantage before open shots allowed UCLA to close the gap due to a few buckets from Tyler Bilodeau. However, Maryland opened the game back up, as they pushed the lead to 23-15 midway through the first half. The energy from the offensive end infected their defense with more pressure and less open looks for the Bruins.
Ja’Kobi Gillespie knocked down his second three-pointer of the game to push the lead to six and led to a forced shot clock violation on the other end for the Terps. Gillespie then had back to back steals on the next two defensive possessions yet Maryland failed to capitalize.
Bilodeau closed the first half with a contested paint fade away in the last seconds to push his total to fourteen and cut the Terps lead to four with a score of 40-36.
After a jump shot from Derik Queen, he turned the ball over on the next possession which led to a fastbreak jumper from Bruins’ Skyy Clark. Reese backed down Bilodeau in the paint on the next possession to push the score to 49-41.
Selton Miguel’s steal led to a layup extending the Terps lead to 56-47 with eight and a half minutes to play. A shot clock buzzer beater for Bilodea calmed the crowd down until another Miguel layup on the next possession picked the energy back up for the Terps.
The momentum for the Terps was insurmountable for the Bruins after a Reese rejection on Bilodeau. “Let’s go Maryland,” chants rang out from the crowd with the score at 60-51 with five minutes to play.
UCLA’s men’s basketball head coach Mick Cronin was ejected with five minutes to go in the second half. Cronin said after the game that Maryland was, “a really good team at home, but you got to defend my players. If you can just mug guys and chop their arms off, throw them out of the way, it's hard to run any offense."
“I don't remember the last time I had a technical," he said. "I had enough. I'm sending a message. I'm tired of it. I know we're the outsider and all that -- us, [U]SC and Oregon -- but that was ridiculous.”
Cronin did not speak in the media post-game press conference but spoke to the Associated Press outside of the press conference.
The message got through as he was given a double technical and sent the Terps to the line for four free throws.
“Let the crowd get into it, kind of like a domino effect,” Reese said.
Gillespie knocked down all four free throws as Maryland kept possession. The lead extended to fifteen after a layup from Reese assisted by Gillespie. Gillespie continued the onslaught making his fourth three of the game as some fans started heading for the exit with the score 68-54 with four minutes to play.
Reese blocked shots, Miguel knocked down a three and Gillespie headed back to the free throw line. Gillespie finished with a game-high 27 points along with four steals.
“It was good to come home, have a couple of days, and obviously have a great home crowd,” said Maryland head coach Kevin Willard.
Gillespie emphasized how important the defensive effort was tonight, “playing together on defense, making rotations, locking in everytime, just trying to get a stop.”
Reese finished with his seventh double-double of the year with 16 points and game-high 10 rebounds. Maryland turned the Bruins over 21 times as their defense was smothering; the Terps had five blocks opposed to none from UCLA.
Maryland will be back at the Xfinity Center to play Minnesota on Monday evening.