After a couple days in Philly, it was back to Maryland for
the first of two consecutive doubleheader days starting with a stop at the XFINITY
Center in College Park, MD for a Big Ten?!?! Conference matchup between the
Maryland Terrapins and the Indiana Hoosiers at Arena #156. Being an alum of the University of Wisconsin
and having lived in Wisconsin all my life, I still struggle to believe that
Maryland is a member of the Big Ten making this the 13th different
Big Ten arena I’ve been to (only the even more hard to believe Rutgers remains). I gotta say, I was highly impressed by the layout
and atmosphere of the XFINITY Center, especially given it was winter break for
the students, yet the end of the arena where the students sit was packed with
regular patrons. There were over 16,000
in attendance for the game, yet I never felt like I was in an arena that large when
I was walking around nor when I was in my seat in the lower corner of the
arena.
I especially liked the trophy
cases that were set up on the concourse to display the accolades of all
Terrapin sports, including the stand-alone trophy case to display the NABC
national championship trophy the Terps won in 2002 over Indiana. They also had the center court logo on
display from Cole Field House, where the Terrapin basketball teams used to play
and where one of the most historic national championship games in college
basketball history was played, the 1966 championship between Texas Western and
Kentucky. That game, which was retold in
the movie Glory Road, was historic as Texas Western became the first school to
ever start 5 African-American players. As
for the Maryland vs. Indiana matchup on this day, the first ten or so minutes
of the game were ugly as can be, with both teams struggling to put the ball in
the basket. Things got better for the Terrapins,
but they certainly never improved for the Hoosiers, who ended up trailing by 8
at half, before getting pummeled for the majority of the second half in what
ended up being a 16-point win for Maryland.
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| Outside the XFINITY Center on the campus of the University of Maryland |
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| View from the front of the upper deck inside the arena |
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| Opening tip between the Terrapins and Hoosiers |
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| Indiana attempting to get to the basket through the tough Maryland defense |
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| Center court from Cole Field House, the former home of Maryland basketball, and the site of the 1966 NCAA National Championship between Texas Western and Kentucky |
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