Xfinity Center might not have been packed full, but the 13,793 fans who showed up Wednesday night to watch Maryland men’s basketball clobber Ohio State, 83-59, might have been the most boisterous.
Enticed by free T-shirts, the students lustily booed the Buckeyes as they usually do with every opponent, but they roared when former star Greivis Vásquez was introduced as the honorary team captain and stood on their feet when a group of football recruits headlined by Spalding quarterback Malik Washington was shown on the video screen above the court.
And it appeared the students’ enthusiasm rubbed off on their older peers as many of the adults also danced during timeouts and got out of their chairs during exciting moments. The infectious mood wasn’t lost on Maryland coach Kevin Willard.
“The old people stand up and cheer,” Willard said with a smile. “I’ve always said when the students are out and going, they force everyone else to get up and get going. I thought the students and the vibe from the start were phenomenal. This building is special when it’s rocking. We didn’t rock it last year because when you hit the back of the rim every time, it’s really tough to cheer for someone when you’re missing shots. I thought the student section was phenomenal, I thought the crowd was great, and you need this in Big Ten play.”
Here are three observations from Wednesday’s conference-opening victory:
Ja’Kobi Gillespie rose to the challenge
The junior point guard punctuated his 23-point, four-assist performance when he put Ohio State junior shooting guard Evan Mahaffey on skates, stepped back to drain a 3-pointer from the left wing, and stared down the Buckeyes bench. But that wasn’t Gillespie’s initial thought.
“I wasn’t about to shoot it at first,” he admitted. “But then I saw that he had fell. So I was like, ‘I’ve got to shoot it,’ and I knocked it down.”
Wednesday’s game was why Maryland (8-1, 1-0 Big Ten) recruited Gillespie from Belmont. Gillespie scorched Ohio State (5-3, 0-1) in the first half by scoring 13 points on 5 of 8 shooting, including 3 of 6 efficiency from the 3-point line. He ran the halfcourt offense and headed the press superbly (more on that later) and demonstrated why he was highly sought-after in the transfer portal.
The consummate teammate, Gillespie tries to get his teammates involved. But after he scored a total of 13 points in easy victories over Bucknell on Nov. 27 and Alcorn State on Sunday, Willard said he threw down the gauntlet with Gillespie.
“I challenged Ja’Kobi,” he acknowledged. “I think Ja’Kobi can be the best guard in this conference, but you’ve got to go out and prove it every night in this conference. It was really the first time I thought he played with an edge, a real edge. He played good against Marquette [24 points and four rebounds], but I thought tonight, he came out with a purpose of trying to say, ‘Hey, I’m just as good as anybody in this conference.’”
Maryland crippled Ohio State’s offense by taking out Bruce Thornton
The junior point guard is listed in the Buckeyes game notes as “Leader of the team.” And he has proved that thus far by entering Wednesday’s game leading the offense in scoring and assists with career highs of 16.4 and 6.6, respectively.
Thornton was magnificent in his previous two starts, amassing 25 points and nine assists in a 102-69 rout of Green Bay on Nov. 25 and 24 points and 10 assists in a 91-90 overtime loss to Pittsburgh on Friday.
But he struggled against the Terps, who deployed Gillespie and sophomore shooting guard Rodney Rice to force Thornton to get rid of the ball. Willard said the goal was to invite Thornton to score without involving his teammates.
“Our whole goal was not to give them a 3-point shot in the first half,” he said. “If we were going to let Bruce score 20 against us, we were going to be good with it. You cannot let [fifth-year small forward Micah] Parrish and [freshman point guard John] Mobley [Jr.] and those guys shoot 3s. With what they do, Bruce Thornton is way too good. So we just stayed at home on shooters, stayed at home on the big guys, and just made him try to finish. Sometimes it’s not rocket science. It’s just, take away a point guard’s great options.”
Thornton was limited to three points on 1 of 2 shooting, zero assists and two turnovers in the first half. He finished the game with nine points on 4 of 7 efficiency, a season-low two assists and two turnovers.
Gillespie said he believes that the team’s defensive effort helped fuel his success on offense, pointing to “our defense as a team. So we were guarding him as a team, just stopping him. And then offensively, I can just trust all of my teammates, and they get me involved, and I get them involved.”
Tafara Gapare is developing into one of the team’s most trusted reserves
The junior small forward continued his torrid ways by compiling 12 points and three rebounds against Ohio State. He tickled the crowd when he drove in from the right corner and slammed home a windmill dunk midway through the first half.
In his past three games, Gapare posted 19 points and six rebounds against Bucknell, nine points and eight rebounds against Alcorn State, and the aforementioned showing against the Buckeyes. The Georgia Tech transfer said his most recent display is an extension of a conversation he had with Willard.
“Coach had talked to me about a day or two ago,” Gapare said. “He said, ‘Come out with better energy and start the game.’”
Against both Bucknell and Ohio State, Gapare played the second-most minutes among the players off the bench. Against Alcorn State, he ranked third — an indication of how valued he is becoming in the Terps’ rotation.
If there is one area that might be preventing Willard from expanding Gapare’s court time, it’s his comprehension of the team’s defensive principles.
“He’s just getting used to playing defense,” Willard said. “Once he kind of gets what we’re doing defensively, he’s going to get better and better, and he’s going to see more time. He’s coming from a totally different defensive scheme than what we play. He gets lost a lot. Especially early in the season, he got lost a lot. He’s not getting lost anymore, and I think you’re starting to see someone with a lot more confidence in his game.”
Have a news tip? Contact Edward Lee at eklee@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/EdwardLeeSun.
UP NEXT
Maryland at No. 8 Purdue
Sunday, noon
TV: Big Ten Network
Radio: 105.7 FM