NCAA March Madness began today and there was plenty of great games on tap. The Maryland Terrapins vs Xavier Musketeers was one of the best games on day one. It featured future NBA prospects like Melo Trimble and Trevon Bluiett. But this game isn’t about stars though, its about teams that play together basketball. After such a physical tournament game whats next for each team? First lets go back and recap what happened in this match-up.
First Half Recap
The first half of this game was close and highly contested. Just by watching you would think this game would go wire to wire. But early on both teams were feeling each other out and resulted in a low scoring half. At the end of the first half the score was 35–36 with Maryland barely leading. Melo Trimble was shaky for the most part but his bucket with 16 seconds left game them the lead and a good feeling for the second half. Meanwhile, Trevon Bluiett started slow and his teammates gave him a well needed boost. Players like Sean O’Mara, J.P. Macura, and Malcolm Bernard performed well for Xavier.
Second Half recap
In the beginning of the second half is where Xavier showed they were the better team. They started the half on a 14-0 run and Maryland offense just couldn’t catch up. Trevon Bluiett showed why he’s the best player on their team scoring 15 of his 21 points in the second half. And his four threes in the first ten minutes really demoralized Maryland. Others for Maryland like Justin Jackson and Kevin Huerter tried to help Trimble but was to no avail. With Trimble shooting 5-15 including 1-9 from three, Maryland had no chance and the lead grew for Xavier. The game ended with a convincing final score of 76-65.
Whats Next for Maryland and Xavier?
Maryland was a high seed and didn’t expect to exit the tourney so swiftly. Melo Trimble will look to try his hand in the NBA Draft and MD will have to hope for a star in the next batch of recruits. As disappointing as a end to this season was, coach Mark Turgeon should look at this as their team just had a bad night. On the other hand, Xavier was a slept on 12 seed in the tournament and will look to advance to the sweet 16 next. After this win, Xavier will face the winner of the 3 Florida State Seminoles and 15 Florida Gulf Coast Eagles. Both teams will be tough competition for Xavier but this win will help to build major confidence for the Chris Mack coached team.
