Lose a couple in a row to teams below you … then come up with a big win over a team above you.
No. 22 Maryland’s losses to No. 2 UCLA and No. 10 Iowa may have started their four-game losing streak, but the next two to No. 24 Washington and unranked Oregon hurt more because, in such a competitive Big Ten, you have to beat the teams you’re supposed to beat to ensure making the NCAA Tournament and giving yourself another shot at the teams above you …
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… unless you can steal some of the games you’re not favored to win, which the Terps did with their gutsy 86-70 victory over No. 12 Michigan State on Wednesday.
Against the Spartans, Maryland led by as many as six in the first quarter and trailed by as many as six in the second before leading by 10 points at the break. They didn’t have a letdown post-halftime this time, which doomed them at some point in the Iowa, Washington and Oregon games. They led by at least six throughout the third and by as much as 19 before leading by at least 11 throughout the fourth en route to the highly-impressive 16-point win over a team that had just taken No. 8 Michigan to overtime. And it came in East Lansing no less.
Though Maryland, for the sixth-straight season, remains on the outside looking in at the true top teams in women’s college basketball, one thing you HAVE to add to that narrative is that they refuse to fall below the Top 16-or-so threshold.
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The Sweet 16 is par for the course of late for this program, and aside from 2023-24 when they lost in the first round, they’ve answered their disappointing losses by bouncing back within the same regular season and then making it to at least the Sweet 16. Even in 23-24, they did something they hadn’t done since their 2014 Final Four season: take down a top-five team. Sometimes the biggest wins come in the weakest overall seasons. On Wednesday, the Terps’ biggest win of the season to date came when they were struggling the most.
Sweet 16 is par for the course now. At times under Frese, the standard has been set even higher; she of course sports a national title and three Final Fours on her Maryland resume. She has never let the Terps lose five games in a row, and with the MSU win, she once again proved the resiliency of her program.
Maryland went on to sweep their road trip, leading receiving-votes Nebraska by as much as 30 before settling for an 18-point win on Saturday in Lincoln. It was a classic Frese-coached rebounding effort from the beginning, with the Terps eventually winning 39-26 on the glass.
Maryland’s resume now includes wins over No. 12 Michigan State, No. 16 Kentucky, No. 23 Princeton and three teams receiving votes in Nebraska, Minnesota and USC. Their losses have been to No. 2 UCLA, No. 9 Ohio State, No. 10 Iowa, No. 24 Washington, receiving-votes Illinois, and Oregon, most-recently projected as a No. 9 seed in ESPN’s Bracketology. Maryland itself was still a No. 5 seed, not moving back into host status despite the win over the Spartans. (Thursday was not kind to the Terps with projected-No. 4 seeds Duke and Tennessee barely surviving with wins.)
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It’s a solid resume, and all Maryland (19-6, 7-6 Big Ten) has to do to finish out the regular season with a winning conference record is take care of business against Penn State, Purdue and Northwestern at home. None of those are projected tournament teams; in fact, they all have losing overall records and the best Big Ten record among them is the Boilermakers’ 3-9 mark. You can’t sleep on ANYONE in the Big Ten though, as the Nittany Lions gave MSU a scare on Saturday, leading by 12 at halftime and only trailing by two entering the fourth before falling by 11.
Maryland needs to focus on taking care of business in those three games. But, after seeing their results against MSU and Nebraska, they can challenge the Buckeyes in their rematch against them, as well as the Wolverines. Winning one or both of those games would be huge for reclaiming host status, and, of course, the Terps will take a seed even higher than No. 4 if they can get it. They’ve got plenty of time left, as there’s also the Big Ten Tournament to think about.
After the Oregon game, in asking Coach Frese if she looks at Bracketology at all, I pointed out that her Terps had enough remaining winnable games against highly-ranked opponents to move up considerably. Like I’ve said before, outside of UCLA, they’ve been in every game this season. They’ve proven they can hang with anyone in that second tier.
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As a fan, however, I had some doubt in their ability to actually get it done. Losing to teams you’re supposed to beat really stings for fans. That’s not to say that it doesn’t for the players and coaches as well, but something separates them from fans in that they have to remove themselves from their emotions and focus on performing to the best of their ability. It still doesn’t guarantee that they will bounce back from those disappointing losses, but in a Brenda Frese locker room they will always believe. And they did respond. Twice.
And so the story of a great program continues. Despite injuries to two of the team’s best players, three potential starters and four players total, the Terps are once again in that second tier nationally and in position to do what they’ve done a lot in recent memory—be one of the hottest teams in the country entering the postseason.
In Oluchi Okananwa the Terps trust
Much was written about how great Maryland’s bench did with their 32 points against MSU. Credit Kyndal Walker for 14 of those and Mir McLean for 10.
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But Oluchi Okananwa quietly led the team in scoring again with 23 points in just 23 minutes, following up her 27 against Oregon that included two unreal stretches of nine points in under 2:30. Against the Spartans, she was 2-for-3 from 3 and 8-for-13 from the field, and also dished five assists with just one turnover.
Against Nebraska, she went on a 9-3 individual run in the first quarter. Though the nine weren’t scored quite as quickly as they were in her stretches against the Ducks, it was still impressive. She added to the contest authorship of another shut-down defensive effort on an offensive superstar, this time holding Britt Prince (17.5 points per game) to just seven points. Against Indiana, she was dominant in denying Shay Ciezki (23.9) the ball; Ciezki’s eventual 17 points were not indicative of how effective Okananwa was in taking her out of the game.
Maryland has had a lot of great players over the years, and Okananwa is etching her name in the lore. In half-court offense, she picks her moments and gets to the basket with explosive speed, also improving her 3-point percentage of late—it’s now at 33.8 percent. Her 17.2 points per game is all the more impressive when you consider that it’s come in 26.9 minutes per game. She is 10th in the Big Ten in scoring, and fifth among the top 10 in points per minute.
On defense, in addition to denying off-ball players and providing stingy on-ball defense, she jumps passing lanes and takes it to the house like an all-world defensive back.
The way she can wreak havoc in transition is reminiscent of Terp legend Alyssa Thomas. As Elise Woodward was saying on the broadcast of Saturday’s game on the Big Ten Network, she fits Maryland’s desire to get out and run so perfectly.
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Terp fans can rest easy knowing Oluchi is on our side.
Rainey Welson joins Addi Mack as a must-watch Maryland freshman
Yes, Maryland has won their last two games by comfortable margins because a lot of things have been better, but don’t discount it as a coincidence that Rainey Welson missed all four games of the losing streak before coming back for these last two.
Not only did Welson receive significant playing time against MSU and Nebraska, allowing other Terps to rest, but she also scored a career-high 13 points against the Huskers. Previously, I said she was destined to become more than a 3-point specialist. She was of course much more than that in high school, with an array of driving and finishing moves. Well, she may already be there at the college level too, with two 3s and also a 3-for-3 effort inside the arc on Saturday, including getting out in transition for an off-hand lefty layup-turned-3-point play.
Frese had already started trusting Welson more prior to the concussion that sidelined her for four contests. She had a two-game coming out party when she posted back-to-back 12-point efforts on Jan. 8 and Jan. 11. It’s no surprise to me that she has continued her great play upon her return.
Early in the season, Addi Mack assumed the role of freshman star, but Welson is making noise too now and was the No. 34 recruit for a reason.
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Most-experienced Terp Mir McClean gives appreciated energy
When Maryland went from beating up on mid-majors to facing their first Power 4 opponent, Kentucky, in Puerto Rico the day before Thanksgiving, Frese decided to play Mir McLean a season-high 25 minutes.
McLean is the senior-most player on the Terps’ roster, having started her college career all the way back in 2020-21 at UConn. Her experience is why Frese trusted her in Maryland’s biggest game of the season to that point. Only six Terps saw significant playing time in that contest, and McLean being one of them was a big reason why the team came away with a victory over the No. 16 squad in the nation. She played phenomenal defense on Wildcat star Clara Strack, reminiscent of last year’s NCAA Tournament Round of 32, when her D helped save the Terps in their double-OT thriller of a victory over Alabama.
McLean, who averages just 12 minutes per game and hadn’t played more than 14 since the calendar turned to 2026, played 24 minutes on Wednesday and tossed in 10 points on 5-for-7 from the field. She also notched three steals. Clearly her veteran presence and defense, as well as some offense reminiscent of her Virginia Cavalier days, were needed to jolt Maryland out of their losing streak and beat a highly-ranked opponent for the first time since Kentucky.
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Isi Ozzy-Momodu’s finishing eases Terp fans’ anxieities
Sometimes even really good teams are plagued by missed layups. The 2025-26 Terps haven’t been.
Okananwa and Isi Ozzy-Momodu are first and third on the team in made field goals with 160 and 92, respectively. So many of those have been easy layups. Ozzy-Momodu (7-for-8 against Nebraska) is shooting 57.1 percent from the field (all 2-point attempts), a mark that would be tied for No. 21 nationally if she had enough volume. Okananwa is shooting 52.5 percent from the field (good for No. 48 and No. 8 among guards) and 57.5 percent on 2s, which is actually better mark than that of Ozzy-Momodu, a post player who isn’t taking the occasional mid-rangers and floaters Okananwa takes!
Performances like Ozzy-Momodu’s on Saturday, which aided Maryland’s 44-22 victory in the paint, put me at ease when I think about the Terps’ 3-point shot being off sometimes.
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3s did NOT doom Maryland during this road trip
On Monday, Cat pointed out that a 3-point disparity might extend Maryland’s losing streak to six games.
Michigan State is No. 14 in the nation with a 3-point percentage of 37.1 and No. 63 with 7.6 makes, while Nebraska is No. 18 (36.7 percent) and No. 47 (eight), respectively. Maryland is No. 249 in 3-point percentage defense. In addition, the Terps are only No. 80 in efficiency from 3 (33.5 percent) and tied for No. 119 in makes per game (6.9). The Spartans are slightly better in 3-point percentage defense (No. 230) and the Huskers are No. 189.
Yet, Maryland outshot MSU in both makes (8-4) and percentage (36.4 to 26.7), and nearly matched Nebraska, losing 9-8 and 36 to 33.3, respectively. What could have been a nightmare turned out okay.
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Terp Nation couldn’t have asked for a much better road trip.
