Gophers men's basketball gameday

7 P.M. VS. Maryland • Williams Arena • BTN, 1500-AM

Minnesota (6-19; 0-13): The Gophers further deepened an already historically poor start to Big Ten play with a 75-71 loss at No. 4 Iowa on Sunday, and posted their 14th consecutive defeat, putting them only two losses short of the program's longest skid set in 1986-87. Minnesota has come within six points or fewer in six of the past seven games and has pulled within two points with under three minutes to play in each of the past two. At Iowa, a pair of free throws from Joey King brought the Gophers there, but Minnesota missed its next four shots as the Hawkeyes rebuilt an eight-point advantage with 21 seconds to go. Minnesota held Iowa to 42.1 percent shooting, the Hawkeyes' worst in league play. … The Gophers have lost 18 games by one or two possessions in the past two seasons under coach Richard Pitino. … Maryland is one of only two Big Ten teams that Minnesota hasn't beaten under Pitino. The Gophers have played the Terrapins only once since they joined the Big Ten before last season, a 70-58 loss in College Park last January. Maryland guard Melo Trimble shot only 1-for-8 from three-point range in that one but finished with 20 points. … Minnesota has shot 73 percent or better from the free-throw line in the past three games after shooting worse than 59 percent in the previous three. … Public address announcer Dick Jonckowski will be honored at halftime for his 30 years of service.

Maryland (22-4; 7-3): The Terrapins' are coming off a 70-57 loss to Wisconsin — Maryland's first home loss in league play since joining the Big Ten — that also resulted in the one-game suspension of Diamond Stone. The 6-11 freshman center got tangled up with Wisconsin's Vitto Brown in the first half of Saturday's game and when Stone picked himself up, he shoved Brown's head onto the court. Maryland, which was knocked out of a three-way tie at the top of the conference in the defeat, went scoreless for an eight-minute stretch in the first half and made only 12 of 21 attempts from the free-throw line. Stone is fourth in the Big Ten with blocked shots (1.7 a game) and is Maryland's second-leading scorer (12.8 points a game) behind Trimble (14.2). … Trimble is only 13-for-52 (25 percent) from three-point range in the past ten games after going a career-worst 1-for-14 against Wisconsin. … Maryland, the nation's second-biggest team according to analyst Ken Pomeroy, is first in the league in free-throw shooting (75.6 percent) and second in field-goal percentage (49.4 percent).

Amelia rayno