Iowa vs. Maryland: Score, Highlights and Reaction from 2016 Regular Season

In a matchup of top 10 teams from the Big Ten on Thursday between the No. 3 Iowa Hawkeyes and the No. 8 Maryland Terrapins, Maryland came out on top 74-68 at the Xfinity Center in College Park, Maryland.

The Terrapins celebrated the victory via Twitter:  

Despite missing all 10 of its three-pointers in the second half, Maryland used a team effort to pull away late after leading by just two with 1:47 remaining.

Rasheed Sulaimon was a big reason why the Terrapins won, finishing with 17 points and five assists. His strong first half helped Maryland take a six-point lead after the first 20 minutes, per ESPN Stats & Info:

This may have been his—and the game's—most impressive play, per the Big Ten Network:

On a night when their star, Melo Trimble, struggled with just 11 points (five coming late on free throws), the Terrapins had others step up. In addition to Sulaimon, power forward Robert Carter added 17 points and seven rebounds, while Jake Layman had 11 points and seven rebounds.

It wasn't the prettiest shooting night for either team, but that didn't keep both of them from putting the ball up. The teams combined to go 11-of-49 from three-point range, and Nicole Auerbach of USA Today took notice:

In the end, Maryland made just enough shots to pull out the victory, despite a big night from Iowa's Adam Woodbury. The 7'1" senior finished with his third straight double-double, scoring 11 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, but fouling out with 2:47 left in the game.

The crowd was happy to wave goodbye, and Rob Dauster of NBC Sports noticed the home fans were lively all night:

Whoever was running Maryland's Twitter feed felt the same way:

Peter Jok and Anthony Clemmons chipped in 14 and 11 points, respectively, for Iowa. The Hawkeyes' leading scorer, Jarrod Uthoff, who was averaging 18.9 points coming in, shot just 2-of-13 from the floor. It was his worst scoring night of the season, per Auerbach:

The win was a nice bounce-back for the Terrapins, who were coming off a 74-65 loss to the Michigan State Spartans on Saturday. It was the first victory of the season over a ranked team for 18-3 Maryland as well as the first win over any team with a decent RPI, per Jeff Borzello of ESPN:

The Hawkeyes saw their nine-game winning streak snapped. They had also won their last three road games, with two coming against ranked teams (Purdue Boilermakers and Michigan State). It was their first regular-season conference loss since Feb. 15, 2015.

Maryland could use the victory to vault into the Associated Press Top Five and, more importantly, toward the top of the Big Ten regular-season standings. Iowa came in at 7-0 and in first place, while the Terrapins were third at 6-2. ESPN's Jeff Goodman thinks this win is a sign of how good the Terrapins can be:

Now Maryland packs its bags for consecutive road games against the Ohio State Buckeyes and Nebraska Cornhuskers, while Iowa has home games on the horizon against the Northwestern Wildcats and Penn State Nittany Lions.

It appears the race for the Big Ten regular season championship could come down to the final day as the top-six teams are now within two games of each other. 

Postgame Reaction

While the game was close throughout, it was obvious the raucous crowd had something to do with Iowa missing shots and turning the ball over late in the game. Hawkeyes head coach Fran McCaffery acknowledged after the game the fans made it tough, per the Testudo Times:

The crowd helped contribute to yet another record-breaking AP top-five loss, per ESPN Stats & Info:

Auerbach added to Borzello’s earlier tweet, questioning Maryland’s overall body of work:

Nevertheless, the Terrapins finally pulled out a big victory and now sit just one half game behind Iowa and the Indiana Hoosiers for first place in the Big Ten. Any conference win is a two-game swing, and this one could go down as a season-defining win for Maryland who still has three games against ranked teams remaining on the schedule.