Maryland will face the potent frontcourt of No. 12 Gonzaga on Tuesday night in the Players Era men’s tournament in Las Vegas.
The Terrapins will do it, however, with Pharrel Payne back in the lineup.
The return of Payne this week is a surprise considering that he was removed from the floor on a stretcher after he suffered a hip injury at Marquette on Nov. 15.
There was speculation that Payne would be lost for the season, but he returned from a one-game absence to record 20 points and eight rebounds on Monday as Maryland (5-1) rallied for a 74-67 victory over UNLV in the Terrapins’ opening game of the tournament.
Up next for Maryland is Gonzaga (6-0), which topped No. 8 Alabama 95-85 on Monday in its tournament opener.
The Bulldogs won by owning the interior. The Crimson Tide had no answer inside for 6-foot-9 Graham Ike (21 points, 11 rebounds) and 6-10 Braden Huff (18 points, eight rebounds).
Gonzaga won the battle of the boards 48-36, had more points in the paint, 52-42, and hustled for more second-chance points, 25-10.
Few teams can match the experience of Gonzaga.
This is Ike’s third season in the team’s starting lineup, while Huff became a starter this year after serving as a key rotation piece the last two seasons.
“We know where each other is going to be if we get doubled,” Ike said of the Bulldogs’ cohesion. “We just have full trust in the guys that they’re gonna hit the shots and we’re gonna make the plays.”
Joining them this season is Grand Canyon transfer Tyon Grant-Foster, who had his best game with his new team Monday night, delivering 21 points and seven rebounds.
“We’ve got a lot of maturity, and I feel like that’s going to carry us a long way with how hard we play,” said Grant-Foster, who is with his fourth team.
It was Gonzaga’s fourth win over a power conference school and its second over a ranked team. All of the Bulldogs’ wins have come by double digits.
“I feel great because I think there’s room for growth,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “There’s a lot of stuff that I feel like we’ve gotta clean up right now. That I feel gives us a higher ceiling.”
Maryland struggled in the first half against UNLV as it committed 15 turnovers. But the Terrapins recovered after the break, erasing a seven-point deficit.
“We were discombobulated, which is what they wanted,” Maryland coach Buzz Williams said. “We made incredibly poor decisions, and we could never get in a rhythm.”
Darius Adams scored 15 points, and David Coit, after missing all but one of his first eight 3-point attempts, drained a pair in the final three minutes to help Maryland wrap it up.
Payne was a force in the second half, as he made all five of his shots from the floor in scoring 16 of his 20 points.
