Diggy Coit’s second-half explosion leads Maryland to 67-62 win at Minnesota
There’s only one player Maryland men’s basketball is going to lean on when it desperately needs a win.
Minnesota led the Terps by six points with just under 10 minutes to go Sunday afternoon in Minneapolis. That’s when Diggy Coit decided he wasn’t letting his team lose a fifth straight game.
The graduate guard — who’s already pulled multiple rabbits out of his hat this season — scored 15 points in the final 10 minutes. That included a well-contested 3-pointer to take the lead in the final minute, and it ended with four consecutive free throws to ice a 67-62 win for Maryland.
The Terps’ second Big Ten win couldn’t have come at a better time. It’s a much-needed breath of fresh air for a team that’s spent much of 2026 suffering through one of the toughest stretches in program history.
The afternoon started with yet another surprise in the lineup. Collin Metcalf got his second consecutive start after averaging 6.9 minutes per game entering Thursday against Ohio State.
Metcalf showed vulnerability in on-ball defense but nabbed two key rebounds late in the second half with the Terps fighting for a lead. He finished with four points and three boards — alongside three fouls — in a season-high 19 minutes.
Head coach Buzz Williams hasn’t hesitated to make major gameplan overhauls this season. Usually they’ve come on the offensive end, but Sunday, it was the defense that looked brand-new. The Terps threw an aggressive, full-court and trap-heavy look at the Gophers. They forced Minnesota to move the ball around and take longer shots.
It’s hard to argue with a change that results in a win. But Minnesota — a team that entered Sunday shooting 33.3% on 3-pointers — lit up the arena from deep.
Thirty-three of the Gophers’ 47 attempts were from beyond the arc — 16 of 23 first-half shots were 3-pointers. Many of them were uncontested, with the Terps unsuccessfully trying to jump passes or double-team the ball handler into throwing it away.
Minnesota ended the first half 8-of-16 from deep, with Isaac Asuma and Bobby Durkin combining to go 7-of-9 on 3-pointers.
The Gophers also dominated the glass early on: over the first 13 minutes, they won the rebound battle 12-5 overall and had five offensive boards to Maryland’s one. To make matters worse, the Terps couldn’t get to the line as they usually do — they shot just two free throws in the first 16 minutes.
All of those factors have spelled disaster for the Terps all season long — and especially all 2026 long. But incredibly, they never trailed the Gophers by more than seven points.
That’s because Maryland was something it hasn’t been all season long: efficient.
Andre Mills spearheaded that trend in the first half. The redshirt freshman’s athleticism has been apparent all season, but Sunday was one of the first games he displayed the technical ability to match.
Mills kept the Terps close with an array of gritty first-half jumpshots. He finished with 12 points, 11 in the opening 20 minutes.
Maryland finished the afternoon 50% from the field — its second-best shooting game across Big Ten play, only behind Coit’s explosion over Penn State.
The first signs of Coit returning to that type of form came in the closing minutes of the first half, when he set off on a personal 6-0 run — he splashed a 3-pointer then converted an and-one down low.
That brought Coit’s first-half total to nine points and cut the Terps’ halftime deficit all the way down to one point. For the first time in weeks, Maryland had life at the break.
That continued after halftime, when both teams were on fire; Maryland and Minnesota combined for 6-of-7 shooting to start the second half. Then they missed three consecutive shots apiece and combined for zero points in over three minutes.
Coit’s excellence over the back end of the second half kept things competitive, and without much offensive help — the team around him scored five points in the final 17 minutes of play. Coit scored 20.
The Terps continued to throw the kitchen sink at the Gophers, forcing numerous extra possessions when the pressure worked. But while Maryland’s defensive tenacity was undeniable, Minnesota did continue to find the open man — and the open man kept making shots.
Everyone in the arena knew who would be taking Maryland’s shots. Coit continued to make them. Nine straight points closed out a thrilling win for a Terps team that desperately needed one.
Three things to know
1. Grit on display. It’s been an emotional 2026 for the Terps. Losing four games in a row — especially four blowouts in a row — is demoralizing. That feeling was evident on Maryland’s faces leaving the court against Ohio State.
Three days later, the Terps fought through an uber-competitive 40 minutes to secure a gritty win. That’s a major testament to the culture Williams has developed in College Park. A lot of teams wouldn’t have closed out a game like Sunday’s in the way Maryland did.
2. Saunders goes from feast to famine. It’s been a tumultuous month for the former San Diego State and Virginia forward. Saunders got open look after open look against the Gophers, but finished with two points and 0-of-5 on 3-pointers.
Saunders has recorded zero, 20 and two points in Maryland’s three February games thus far.
3. Solomon Washington’s emotional presence was felt. The forward’s nine points and 10 rebounds don’t tell the full story of his impact. Washington fought through two hard hits — one to his crotch and one to his face — and was instrumental in the Terps’ paint presence down the stretch, both as a rebounder and communicator. He’ll be sure to feel his vocal cords tomorrow morning.
from Testudo Times https://ift.tt/QXeTzD2
0 Response to "Diggy Coit’s second-half explosion leads Maryland to 67-62 win at Minnesota"
Post a Comment