Maryland men’s basketball jumps to No. 13 in AP poll

Dec 5, 2022 - 5:11 PM

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Maryland men’s basketball jumped to No. 13 in the AP poll Monday, nine spots up from its previous position at No. 22.

The week prior, Maryland moved up just one spot from No. 23.

Now 8-0 on the season, the Terps went 2-0 in the past week with wins over Louisville and then-No. 16 Illinois. The Terps defeated the Cardinals, 79-54, in their first true road game and took down the Fighting Illini, 71-66, on Friday in a thrilling game at a raucous XFINITY Center. Jahmir Young led the way with 24 points, including a clutch 3-pointer late in the second half to seal the game.

The win over Illinois was Maryland’s first ranked test of the season, and the win garnered plenty of love from the media. ESPN’s Jeff Borzello named Maryland as his top team of the week and the Terps jumped into the top 10 of NCAA.com’s Andy Katz’s Power 36 rankings as well as CBS Sports’ Gary Parrish’s Top 25 and 1 list.

Only behind No. 4 Purdue, Maryland is the second-highest ranked Big Ten team and one of five in the poll; No. 14 Indiana, No. 17 Illinois and No. 25 Ohio State made appearances as well. According to KenPom — which had the Terps as the No. 19 team in the nation when the AP poll was released — Maryland is projected to finish the season with a 13-7 conference record, which is second only to Purdue.

KenPom projects Maryland to finish with a 22-9 overall record and favors it in every home game.

The Terps also landed at No. 6 in the first NET rankings of the year, a metric used by the NCAA Tournament selection committee that replaced RPI in 2018. Their wins over Miami and Illinois currently rank as Quadrant 1 victories.

The next week will be another tough one for Maryland. It travels to take on Wisconsin on Tuesday at 9 p.m. in its first Big Ten road game and then will play No. 7 Tennessee on Sunday at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, in the 2022 Basketball Hall of Fame Invitational.