Growing the Rivalry: Wisconsin Basketball vs. Maryland

The hiring of then-Milwaukee head coach Bo Ryan yielded little fanfare outside the city of Madison.

Other than an improbable run to the Final Four in 2000, there had been few bright spots since the Badgers hung their 1947 Big Ten championship banner. Not only were there no Big Ten titles over that 54-year stretch, but Wisconsin also had four times as many losing seasons (32) as top-four finishes in the league (eight). There were just four NCAA tournament appearances, including 47 straight seasons without one.

So, when Dick Bennett abruptly retired in November 2000, he took with him some of the excitement as the Badgers stumbled to a 13-loss season and a first-round upset. Ryan and associate head coach Greg Gard didn’t wait long to change the culture.

Winning back-to-back Big Ten titles in their first two seasons, the Badgers have been dominant in winning 71 percent of its games during Ryan’s 14 seasons as head coach and in the last six-plus seasons under Gard (495-202 through Jan.6). UW has won eight Big Ten titles, appeared in 18 of the last 19 NCAA tournaments, and advanced to two Final Fours.

Since Ryan and Gard arrived, Wisconsin has the most Big Ten wins and the best winning percentage in the conference at 244-114 (.682) and have flipped many conference rivalries that had long been one-sided affairs.

Over the course of this Big Ten season, BadgerBlitz will examine Wisconsin’s series with the 13 other conference teams, what it was before Ryan and Gard arrived, what the series looks like now, and some memorable moments along the way.

Today, we look at Wisconsin’s series with Maryland.

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Pre 2001-02: Wisconsin leads 3-0

Since 2001-02: Wisconsin leads 8-7

Ryan’s Record vs. Maryland: 2-3* (0-2 in College Park, 1-1 neutral)

Gard’s Record vs. Maryland: 6-4 (2-2 in College Park, 1-0 neutral)

Record when both teams were ranked: Ryan 1-1; Gard 2-0

When Wisconsin was ranked, Maryland was not: Ryan 0-1; Gard 1-1

When Maryland was ranked, Wisconsin was not: Ryan 1-1, Gard 2-2

When both teams were unranked: Ryan 0-0, Gard 1-1

*-UW played Maryland four times (March 02, Dec. 03, Nov. 04, Nov.09) when the Terrapins were in the ACC.

Wisconsin had only seen Maryland twice in the former millennium, winning a home-and-home series in 1931-32, so there wasn’t much history when the 23rd-ranked Badgers – coming off a Final Four appearance – hosted the 13th-ranked Terrapins in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge at Milwaukee’s Bradley Center in November 2000. It turned into a remarkable game, with Kirk Penney scoring five of his 18 points in overtime for a 78-75 win.

The storyline quickly shifted after the game with coach Dick Bennett announcing his immediate retirement, saying he was drained after UW’s Final Four run the year before, but the game set a foundation for what has been a competitive series.

Under Ryan: Ryan’s Cinderella first season came to a crashing halt in the NCAA Tournament against No.4 Maryland, a 30-point loss to the eventual national champions. All the games have been fairly competitive since. UW and the Terps met in back-to-back ACC/Big Ten Challenge games in 2003-04 (winning on each other’s home court by a combined 13 points) and the third-place game of the Maui Invitational (UW won, 78-69, by going 10-for-22 from 3-point range).

Ryan only saw the Terps once in Big Ten play, a 59-53 loss in College Park on a night the Badgers could have clinched a share of the Big Ten regular-season championship (the trophy was hidden in the coaching staff's bathroom under towels so ). It worked out OK for them, as UW won the title in the home finale less than a week later against Michigan State.

Under Gard: The Xfinity Center has been a tough place for Big Ten schools to play, as Maryland is 48-16 (.750) against conference schools since joining the league. Gard’s Badgers have played well in the venue, with a 2-2 record (only Michigan (3) has won their more). Last season, albeit in a fan-less venue, Wisconsin held Maryland to 55 points in a home game for the first time since February 2014.

All the games have been close, with dagger shots in crunch time (Maryland’s Melo Trimble in 2016, Wisconsin’s Brevin Pritzl in 2018, and Brad Davison 2020) and an average margin of victory of 6.3 points.

Overall, Ryan/Gard went 3-2 against coach Gary Williams and 6-5 against Mark Turgeon.

When Wisconsin lost at No.14 Maryland in 2015, the Badgers were playing their fourth game in 10 days. UW alternated between home and road games with the two road trips being long flights to Penn State and Maryland. I asked Ryan about the challenges of preparing a team with that kind of schedule.

“There are so many factors that people never talk about," he said. "Days of preparation before you play a team, the time of the time, time zones, travel, the flu during basketball season, how many players play who are not 100 percent. There are a lot of factors, but when the (records) are what they are, to me, it says our players handled all that. Whatever adversity was thrown out there, on a consistent basis, our players answered the bell. Most of the times it wasn’t who we were playing; it was how we were pulling together and what we were doing. We can only control what we do. That’s how we practiced and prepared.”

Wisconsin’s victory at No.2 Maryland in 2016 wasn’t a huge surprise. Even though it’s tied for the highest-ranked team UW has ever beaten on the road. After all, the Badgers have a veteran, experienced roster, had won six straight entering the game, and lost to Maryland on a last-season 3-pointer a little over a month earlier.

Four years later, the Badgers beat No.17 Maryland at the Kohl Center in typical program fashion – a hustle play for another “gritty, not pretty win”

After UW squandered a chance to take the lead with a shot-clock violation, Davison deflected the inbounds pass and knocked it off the inbounder with 12.4 seconds left. With Wisconsin suddenly having new life, Davison used a screen to get an open look from the corner that he buried.

Nate Reuvers scored a team-high 17 points with Micah Potter and Davison each chipping in 14.

"Those are kind of shots that you dream about, and you think about," Davison said. "I'm very thankful for the opportunity to see the ball drop. But most importantly, that's a big win for this team."

It turned out to be a huge win less than two months later. Wisconsin, Maryland, and Michigan State all shared the Big Ten title with 14-6 records.

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