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#3 Maryland, Michigan clash on Tuesday
By: Brian Graham - StatFox
Published: 1/12/2016  at  1:54:00 PM
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MARYLAND TERRAPINS (15-1, 4-0 Big Ten)

at MICHIGAN WOLVERINES (12-4, 2-1 Big Ten)

Crisler Center - Ann Arbor, MI
Tip-off: Tuesday, 9:00 p.m. ET
Line: Maryland -1.5, Total: 140

No. 3 Maryland looks to stay hot on Tuesday night when it visits a Michigan team that will likely be without its best player again.

The Terrapins (7-7 ATS) are off to their best start in school history at 15-1, and racked up their ninth straight win with Saturday's 63-60 victory at Wisconsin on a Melo Trimble three-pointer with 1.2 seconds left. Meanwhile, the Wolverines (9-5 ATS) snapped a six-game win streak when they were trounced 87-70 at Purdue on Thursday, which was their second straight game without top scorer Caris LeVert (lower leg injury), who is doubtful to return on Tuesday. These schools have met only three times in the past 20 seasons with Maryland winning all three meetings with Michigan that occurred in 2000 on a neutral court, and 2008 and 2015 in College Park, MD. Although the Terrapins won 66-56 in the first Big Ten matchup of the schools last season, Crisler Arena is not an easy place to win, as evidenced by the Wolverines near-perfect 8-1 SU (5-2 ATS) record at home this season. There are plenty of reasons to wager on either side Tuesday, as Maryland is 9-1 ATS on the road versus long-range shooting teams (21+ three-point attempts per game) in the past three seasons, and home underdogs (or pick) are just 50-90 ATS since 1997 after a conference road loss and facing a conference opponent coming off a close road win (3 points or less). But Michigan is 20-6 ATS as a home underdog of 3 points or less since 1997, and is 30-13 ATS versus top-notch opponents (12+ PPG margin) after 15+ games under head coach John Beilein. LeVert is the only significant injury concern for either team in this game.

Can Michigan put an end to Maryland's long winning streak? For the answer, connect to The Platinum Sheet for all the StatFox Experts Best Bets throughout the season. The experts have a profitable 53% ATS record (66-58-1) in Best Bets over the past five weeks, including 58% ATS (14-10-1) last week. StatFox Brian has a 68% ATS mark (17-8) in the past five weeks, while StatFox Zach is a profitable 55% ATS (41-37-2) over the past six weeks.

Maryland has a high-powered offense that is averaging 78.4 PPG on a blistering 50.9% FG (5th in nation), 38.6% threes (34th in D-I) and 75.8% FT (14th in nation). This success is achieved through great balance, as five Terrapins players are averaging double-figure scoring this season. Saturday's hero, G Melo Trimble, has a team-high 14.8 PPG on stellar shooting marks of 49% FG, 40% threes and 87% FT. He has been especially hot lately with 45 points in his past two full games, sandwiched around an injury-plagued 14 minutes versus Rutgers on Wednesday when he missed the entire second half with a strained hamstring. Trimble was the best player on the floor versus Michigan last season when he scored a game-high 19 points (4-of-9 FG, 3-of-4 threes, 8-of-9 FT) with five assists and four rebounds. Freshman C Diamond Stone (13.1 PPG, 5.4 RPG) has scored at least 10 points in nine straight games, which includes his enormous 39-point, 12-rebound effort versus Penn State on Dec. 30. Junior F Robert Carter (12.6 PPG, 6.9 RPG) also provides muscle down low, which he showed on Saturday when he tallied 14 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks at Wisconsin. The other two big Terrapins scorers are F Jake Layman (10.7 PPG, 5.3 RPG) and Duke transfer G Rasheed Sulaimon (10.4 PPG, 3.8 APG, 3.4 RPG), who are shooting 48% FG and 49% FG, respectively, this season. Layman scored 10 points versus Michigan off the bench last year, and the senior Sulaimon has knocked down a career-high 49% threes this season. Maryland also has a great defense that limits opponents to 63.6 PPG (25th in D-I) on 40.9% FG and 31.0% threes (50th in nation). The team has 5.3 blocks per game (37th in D-I) and commits only 16.1 fouls per game (11th in nation), while holding a strong +6.4 RPG margin (42nd in D-I). However, the defense will certainly be tested on Tuesday by the high-scoring Wolverines.

Just like the Terps, Michigan also has an impressive offense that produces a hefty 78.7 PPG (73rd in nation) on 50.1% FG (9th in D-I) and 42.6% threes (also 9th in nation). This is a very unselfish and smart team that has just 9.9 turnovers per game (8th-fewest in D-I) and a stellar 1.67 assist-to-turnover ratio (9th in nation). The Wolverines also have a top-notch defense that holds opponents to 62.6 PPG (17th in D-I) on 41.2% FG, but allows a hefty 35.4% clip from long range (244th in nation). Also, they don't force enough turnovers (12.9 TOPG, 199th in D-I) and rarely block shots (2.4 BPG, 287th in nation), while posting a pedestrian +1.5 RPG margin. Without G Caris LeVert (17.6 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 5.2 APG) available, Michigan will once again turn to G Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman (6.1 PPG, 2.1 RPG) to fill his starting spot. The sophomore has been huge in this role in the past two games with 39 points (15-of-23 FG, 4-of-8 threes), six rebounds and three steals, and has increased his three-point shooting to 39%, which is up from his 29% clip as a freshman. Abdur-Rahkman also started for an injured LeVert at Maryland last year, and finished with seven points and seven rebounds in 28 minutes. The only two other double-digit scorers on the team are 6-foot-8 F/G Duncan Robinson (11.8 PPG, 2.9 RPG) and junior G Derrick Walton Jr. (10.1 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 3.7 APG, 1.6 SPG) who are both shooting over 50% from three-point range. Robinson (56% threes) has scored at least eight points in a dozen straight games, while Walton (52% threes) is struggling with a 40% FG clip or lower in five consecutive contests where he has made only 35% FG (15-of-43). During this five-game slump, Walton has been solid behind the arc with 42% threes (8-of-19), but has made only 29% of his two-point attempts (7-of-24).


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