COLLEGE PARK, Md — DeShawn Harris-Smith grabbed the defensive rebound completing Tafara Garpare’s deflection and flew down the left side of the court pulling up at the left wing. Garpare followed the sophomore guard, streaking down the middle of the court. Harris-Smith rocketed a pass to the transfer from Georgia Tech. 

Gapare caught the ball at the free throw line and was immediately swarmed by a couple of Minnesota defenders. The six-foot-nine forward kept the ball high above his head until he found Ja’Kobi Gillespie patiently awaiting a pass in the left corner. Gapare dished it off to Maryland’s starting point guard and he knocked it down, giving the Terps their first lead of the second half. 

“I feel like he makes a lot of big plays,” Gillespie said of Gapare. “I feel like he brings a lot of energy on the court.”

Maryland never relinquished that lead earning back to back conference victories for the first time this season, beating Minnesota, 77-71. 

The Terps offense shined in the second half behind a dominant performance by freshman big man Derik Queen. 

Queen finished the game with 27 points — 18 of which coming in the second half — on 67 percent shooting from the floor. The Baltimore native added in some highlight reel moments to go along with his efficient shot making including a putback slam following a missed layup from Selton Miguel. 

Queen was a large reason for Maryland’s dominance in the paint, out scoring the Gophers by six points within the restricted area. The Terps also won the second chance points battle — nine to eight — despite being out rebounded by five. 

“We just basically did a simple pick and roll because they trapped and just put the wings in the corner and put whoever else was in like [Julian Reese] or Tafara in the dunker’s spot,” said Queen. “It gave me a lot of room to like work in and score the ball.”

Maryland’s defense improved going into the second half building upon the momentum created by Queen and the offense. The defense held the Big Ten’s fifth best scorer — Dawson Garcia — to just nine points on two-of-six shooting making him a minus two in the half. The Terps held Minnesota to 34.5 percent shooting and only three made three-pointers following a first half in which the Gophers buried five. 

“I didn’t think we came out with really good defensive intensity,” said head coach Kevin Willard. “I thought we scored, got some easy buckets and we’re able to kind of make them work more consistently where in the first half I didn’t think we were able to make them work consistently.”

Minnesota’s offense started the game hot shooting 50 percent from the floor and 55.6 percent from three-point range. The Gophers dominated on the offensive end using a 13-2 scoring run near the middle of the first half to earn the lead. Garcia led all scorers with 12 points at the break and was one of two Minnesota players in double digits (Isaac Asuma was the other with ten points).  

Maryland put together a strong first five minutes to start the game, but struggled as the first half went on. Maryland missed its first three shots and ended the half shooting 40 percent from the floor. The Terps defense did a good job at forcing turnovers (11) but the 11 points they scored off those giveaways weren’t enough to supplement their poor shooting. 

The Terps managed to cut Minnesota’s lead to three at the end of the half with a solo scoring run by Queen. The scoring run cemented him as the team’s scoring leader with nine points at the half. 

Queen finished the game as one of three Terps in double figures. 

Gillespie (15 points) and fellow guard Rodney Rice (21 points) aided the freshman on the offensive end, especially from three-point range. The sharpshooting duo made four of their 12 attempts from beyond the arc finishing as two of the three Terps to make a three. The other Terp to make a three-pointer was Miguel. 

Maryland finished the game shooting 47.3 percent from the field, 31.6 percent from three, and 79.2 percent from the line. Maryland scored on 35 of its 67 offensive possessions.

“We’re still wasting way too many possessions at times and I think that’s the one thing that we’re going to really focus on going forward,” Willard said.  

Maryland will try and carry this momentum into its upcoming road matchup against Northwestern on Thursday. The Terps are winless in true road games this season.