Diggy Coit's offensive explosion gets Maryland first Big Ten win, but why didn't he chase a legendary record?

During the preseason, the noise about Diggy Coit grew increasingly loud. Maryland basketball coach Buzz Williams predicted he'd be the team's biggest surprise player. Everyone who watched practice came away raving about him. The buzz, no pun intended, was noticeable.

But no one could've predicted this. The senior guard produced the latest and greatest in his string of offensive explosions on Sunday in Maryland's 96-73 win over Penn State, erupting for an Xfinity Center-record 43 points. And he had a chance to make bigger history: with nearly five minutes left, Coit needed two points to break Terps legend Ernie Graham's school single-game record of 44 points in 1978.

But Penn State, perhaps knowing about the record, ratcheted up its defense. His teammates didn't force him the ball as you often see in such record-breaking scenarios, and he missed a couple of deep shots.

STOP! If you're not getting our Terps email newsletter, you're missing out. Take 10 seconds to sign up here!

With the final seconds winding down, freshman Darius Adams took and made a three-pointer. Why didn't they make a concerted effort to get the record? They didn't know about it.

Maryland coach Buzz Williams told Terps radio analyst Chris Knoche in his postgame interview that neither he nor Coit were aware he was one bucket from the record. Coit said otherwise.

I knew [I was one point shy of the program record], but I wasn't chasing it," Coit said. "I knew I could have, they would have let me take every shot. ... I just think it was smarter for me to just not do that. I mean, if I made two free throws, it'd been different."

Regardless, Coit lifted Maryland to a much-needed first Big Ten win of the season and became the first Terp in 20 years to post back-to-back 30-point games. He did it by halftime, pouring in 30 points in the opening 20 minutes. The Kansas transfer went quiet for the first 10 minutes of the second-half, but put together a couple more mini-bursts to get to 43.

"He has video game tendencies ... He has an ability to score at his size that's uncommon," he said.

It was the fourth time this season Coit's scored 30 points or more, which isn't as big of a surprise as it might seem. The New Jersey native had a quiet season last year at Kansas, averaging barely five points per game, miscast in Bill Self's offense. But the year before that, he averaged 21.8 points per game as a sophomore at Northern Illinois. Today marked the 10th time in his career he's scored at least 30 points in a game, more than anyone else in college basketball.

Coit also tied Mike Jones' Maryland single-game 3-point record, with nine.

He's the first Maryland player with two 40-point games in a season. The other, Gene Shue, had four years to make it happen.

Coit now has the top two scoring performances in the building's history, having scored 41 there earlier this season in a win over Mount St. Mary's.

BEFORE YOU FINISH READING ...

-- Get the latest Terps news delivered to your inbox FREE. Sign up for our email newsletter here and stay informed on Maryland basketball, football, recruiting and every other Terps storyline.

-- Use checkout code "IMS" to save $20 on tickets at SeatGeek!

-- Or buy and sell Maryland tickets on the new ticket marketplace!

-- Follow IMS on Facebook, Twitter, Tiktok and Instagram.

Click here to read article