SEATTLE, WA — Washington freshman guard Zoom Diallo backed down Rodney Rice with just over a minute left on the clock. Diallo leapt off of two feet, drawing a double team from Julian Reese that left senior forward Great Osobor open on the paint’s opposite side.
Osobor took in a head-high pass from Diallo. He leaned into Reese, making a last ditch effort to throw and bank in a wild and-one layup.
The three-point play gave Washington a five-point cushion in the game’s final moments — it proved to be just enough insurance. Maryland couldn’t close the gap late, falling 75-69 to the Huskies on Thursday.
“I give Washington a lot of credit,” Maryland coach Kevin Willard said. “They were physical, they were more physical than us and they deserved to win.”
Washington (10-4, 1-2 Big Ten) settled in late against Maryland (11-3, 1-2 Ten) — headlined by offensive dominance courtesy of Osobor. The Utah State transfer scored 20 points, his most in a single game since mid-November. The mark came on an efficient 8-for-11 shooting and a game-high 14 rebounds and three steals.
“[Osobor] did a really good job of scoring over,” Washington coach Danny Sprinkle said. “To score over guys like Reese is hard… [and] he scored with right, left hand jump hooks which he’s capable of doing.”
But Osobor’s biggest effect on Washington’s win may have been how he matched up down low against Maryland freshman center Derik Queen. Queen squared off against Osobor early and picked up two personal fouls after just eight minutes on the court.
Queen, Maryland’s leading scorer this season, was up to four fouls early in the second half and never found his stride offensively, finishing with a season-low three points.
Ja’Kobi Gillespie entered the night right behind Queen — averaging just under 14 points per game — but was also blanked Thursday by the Huskies’ defense. The Belmont transfer didn’t make a single field goal, finishing with just one point and an assist.
“We’ve been playing ten guys all year,” Willard said. “And we have to grow, we have to be in these situations more [where we] struggle offensively and not let that affect us defensively.”
Reese paced the Terps in the losing effort, scoring over 20 points in back-to-back outings for the first time in 112 career games.
The senior forward added nine rebounds and made nine of 11 shots attempted to fill in offensively for Queen. But the effort came up short — Washington trailed for most of the second half before claiming the game’s final lead with five minutes left to play.
The eventual victory would serve as the Huskies’ first-ever Big Ten win since joining the expanded conference.
The late dramatics followed a tight first half — Maryland led by just three at the break, one of the largest advantages either team earned early. Its two leading scorers, Queen and Gillespie, were both held scoreless in the period.
But Reese stepped up, filling the frontcourt void.
Reese led all players with 14 points and five rebounds at halftime, scoring an efficient six of his first seven shots from the field.
More than half of Reese’s first half points came during a span in which Maryland started to receive contributions from unlikely sources off the bench.
Seeing increased minutes with Queen sidelined, fifth year forward Jordan Geronimo and sophomore guard Deshawn Harris-Smith each had big moments early. Geronimo scored four consecutive points for Maryland and swatted away three shots in the first half — nearly matching his four-block season total in the frame.
Harris-Smith helped control pace offensively, draining two straight buckets for six first-half points. The sophomore guard accelerated down the left wing to convert a crafty and-one layup before losing a defender on a stepback 3-pointer — just his fourth made triple this season.
Maryland continues its two-game west coast road trip on Sunday, when it travels to No. 9 Oregon at 4 p.m. EST.
