Michigan finally finishes off a good team upsetting No. 3 Maryland
Three days after drilling a long, game-winning 3-pointer with pure confidence to give Maryland a victory at Wisconsin, guard Melo Trimble seemed to be running on empty Tuesday night in a loss at Michigan.
Trimble scored his only two points of the night in the first two minutes of the game and then nearly disappeared offensively aside from three assists. Getting in early foul trouble and having spend a significant portion of the first half of the bench didn’t help but also doesn’t completely explain away Trimble’s contribution.
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Trimble’s odd performance played a key part in Michigan upsetting the third-ranked Terrapins 70-67 and the Wolverines earning their first notable victory of the season.
Prior to Tuesday, Michigan had fallen short in each of the games against ranked opponents and while it had a respectable record, it didn’t really have a result about which it could boast.
It does now.
Michigan made 12 of 29 3-point attempts and committed only eight turnovers in earning it’s first top-five win at home since 2008. The Wolverines ended Maryland’s 10-game winning streak behind 22 points from Zak Irvin and 17 points from Duncan Robinson, who made five of nine 3-pointers.
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Maryland forward Jake Layman came through with might have been his best game of the season and it was almost enough to account for a lack of scoring from Trimble. Leyman scored 18 with 10 rebounds and the Terrapins tried to count the 3-point barrage by dominating the paint.
Diamond Stone added 22 off the bench and Robert Carter scored 15 for Maryland. Rasheed Sulaimon tried to play the hero for Maryland, making two 3-pointers in the final three minutes and just missing a game-tying attempt in the final seconds.
It was only the second loss of the season for the Terrapins, who also lost on the road at North Carolina. It was the first big win for Michigan and should be something on which coach John Beilein and his players can build.
The Wolverines certainly have stretches in which they look like a top-25 team if not a top-10 team. but until Tuesday, they hadn’t been able to finish a good opponent.
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[Kyle Ringo is the assistant editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KyleRingo