The Washington Huskies upset Derik Queen and the Maryland Terrapins 75-69 in a very close, hard-fought battle in Big 10 Conference play. Great Osobor proves why he is the most expensive player in the nation with 20 points and 14 rebounds against Maryland's talented big men in Derik Queen and Julian Reese. Overall, the Huskies shot 47% from the field (26/55) but shot a poor 22% from beyond the 3-point line (5/23). The Maryland Terrapins also shot 47% from the field (26/55), but were held to only 18% from beyond the 3-point line only hitting 2 of 11 three-pointers thanks to the Huskies tight defense. What helped separate the Dawgs was their free throw shooting, as they shot 18 for 23 from the charity stripe (78%) compared to the Terrapins shooting 15/22 (68%) from the line. Clutch free throw shooting from DJ Davis gives Danny Sprinkle his first Big 10 win as well as the Huskies first Big 10 win of the year.
The Dawgs were able to keep the first half versus Maryland close, with the Terps having a 33-30 lead going into halftime. Wilhelm Breidenbach and Great Osobor had great defense in the paint which slowed down the Maryland offense, which is near the top in the country for scoring. The Huskies were also able to slow the game down to their own pace, running the clock down and then driving to the hoop or knocking down mid range shots.
Terrapins freshman star Derik Queen was held to ZERO points in the first half to having 2 fouls in the first 8 minutes of the game which allowed the Huskies to keep the game tight. For the Huskies offense, it was the Osobor and Diallo show as they combined for 20 of the 30 points in the first half, Osobor with 11 points and 5 rebounds, and Diallo with 9 points. Maryland's other talented big man, Julian Reese was able to step up for the Terrapins in the first half with 14 points, including 8 straight points during a 14-4 run by the Terps.
In the second half, the Huskies continued to play at their own pace, even with Maryland's stifling full court press giving them some issues inbounding the ball every once in a while. The Dawgs were able to prevent Maryland from pulling away with a 13-3 run with 12 minutes remaining. Wilhelm Breidenbach ended up receiving his fourth foul with 13 minutes left to play, and was able to stay out of foul trouble to help with stopping Maryland's big men until 6minutes left to play when he fouled out and ended his night with 5 points in 19 minutes played, his defense didn't show up on the stat sheet, but his presence in the paint was very important.
Luckily for the Dawgs, Derik Queen was in foul trouble of his own, and gathered his fourth foul with 9 minutes left to go, which caused him to sit on the bench for a while. Great Osobor was HUGE in the fourth with 9 points and 9 rebounds in the second half alone, which totalled to 20 points and 14 rebounds on the night on 67% shooting, which is his fourth double-double on the year. With Osobor's dominant performance on the glass, Derik Queen was limited to 1 rebound and 4 points, shooting 1 for 7 from the field.
Zoom Diallo also continued to shoot well and ended the night with a career high 18 points on 50% shooting. The emergence in the second half of DJ Davis was also huge to the Dawgs success. Despite only scoring 3 points in the first half, he ends the night with 17 points and made all 6 of his free throws down the stretch, he proved why he was the top free throw shooter in the country at Butler last year.
The major contributors for the Huskies tonight were Great Osobor, Zoom Diallo, and DJ Davis. As mentioned, Osobor ended the night with a 20 point and 14 rebound double-double and had the game sealing steal for the Dawgs. Zoom Diallo ended the night with his career high of 18 points and had 4 assists to go along with that off of the bench. With the way he is playing, 18 probably won't be his career high for much longer. DJ Davis ends his night with 17 points, 14 of them being in the second half. For the Terps, Julian Reese ends the night with 22 points and 7 rebounds, being their leading scorer. Another Terp that played well was Jordan Geronimo, coming off of the bench with 10 points and 6 rebounds in 21 minutes.
As for the Dawgs, they extend their season record to 10-4 and win their first BIG 10 game of the season. The Huskies next game will take place on Sunday, January 5th versus the Illinois Fighting Illini. This will be their final game at Alaska Airlines Arena until January 15th, as they head to the midwest for more BIG 10 play. Illinois is ranked #22 in the country led by freshman Kasparas Jakucionis who averages 16 points per game. They are also coming off of a huge upset win vs #9 Oregon by the score of 109-77. Although this was a great win for the Dawgs, they have a long BIG 10 road ahead of them and they cannot get comfortable.