Cowan scores 31, leads No. 15 Terps past No. 18 Iowa 82-72
COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — Anthony Cowan Jr. scored a career-high 31 points, Jalen Smith had 18 points and 14 rebounds, and No. 15 Maryland beat 18th-ranked Iowa 82-72 Thursday night to snap the Hawkeyes‘ five-game winning streak.
The Terrapins (17-4, 7-3 Big Ten) never trailed after halftime in the rematch of a Jan. 10 meeting that Iowa won 67-49 to launch its five-game run. With Cowan leading the way, Maryland won its fourth straight and improved to 12-0 at home.
Cowan moved past Walt Williams into 12th place on the Maryland scoring list with 1,716 points. The senior guard went 9 for 15 from the floor, 10 for 11 at the foul line and led the Terps with six assists.
Luka Garza scored 21 for the Hawkeyes (15-6, 6-4) and Joe Wieskamp had 17. Garza, the Big Ten’s leading scorer, was in foul trouble throughout. He had two fouls in the opening five minutes and picked up his fourth with 7:55 remaining.
NO. 11 OREGON 77, CALIFORNIA 72
BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — Payton Pritchard scored 21 points and broke Oregon’s all-time assists record in leading the Ducks past California.
Chris Duarte added 19 points as Oregon (18-4, 7-2 Pac-12) remained on top of the conference standings with the victory.
Matt Bradley scored a season-high 27 points to lead Cal (9-11, 3-4).
Pritchard’s 615th career assist set the new mark for the Ducks. Kenya Wilkins, who played for Oregon from 1993-97, held the previous mark.
NO. 19 ILLINOIS 59, MINNESOTA 51
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — Andres Feliz scored 17 points and Ayo Dosunmu and Kofi Cockburn added 13 each as Illinois held on to beat Minnesota.
It was the seventh consecutive win for the Fighting Illini (16-5, 8-2 Big Ten). They moved into a first-place tie with No. 14 Michigan State in the conference.
Daniel Oturu led the Golden Gophers (11-10, 5-6) with a game-high 20 points and Alihan Demir added eight points.
Both teams shot poorly. The Illini shot 33% and Minnesota made 32% of its attempts from the field.