Maryland men’s basketball climbed up to the third spot in the AP Poll, which was released on Monday, after starting the season 8-0.
The Terps are fresh off of winning the Orlando Invitational, beating Temple, Harvard and Marquette. Maryland trend off slow starts finally came to a halt in the victory over the Golden Eagles to secure the Orlando Invitational championship.
Maryland’s defense in that game played a huge factor, as the Terps held Marquette’s leading scorer Markus Howard, who scored 91 points in the first two games of the tournament, to six points on 1-12 shooting.
Terps’ point guard Anthony Cowan finished with 22 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Cowan averaged 24 points per game en route to being named the tournament’s MVP. Cowan had a stellar game in the tournament opener against Temple, scoring 30 points and converting four three-pointers.
Outside of Maryland, Louisville was ranked first in the nation while Kansas came in second place. Michigan, led by first year Head Coach Juwan Howard, went from unranked to the fourth spot after beating North Carolina and Gonzaga to win the Battle for Atlantis tournament. Virginia rounded out the top five.
Duke dropped to the No. 10 spot and Michigan sits at No. 11.
Maryland will be at home on Wednesday to face Notre Dame in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge.
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