Under two points with less than a minute left at no. 24 Purdue, Maryland’s men’s basketball urgently needed to stop. The defense played great all night, and it did exactly that on the crucial game, forcing guard Jayden Ivey into a deep three-point miss.
Junior guard Eric Ayala then drove to the other side in the paint, braiding himself past several Purdue defenders to get to the bucket and pull the bonus shot. He made the first attempt but could not make good the second time to level the game.
The Terps’ defense forced the Boilermakers back into the next possession and left the home team with 16.6 seconds to win the game after a retirement.
With the ball in his hands again, Ayala dripped into the paint, hoping to have similar success lower. He hit a shot, but it did not fall, which almost jeopardized the game. But he grabs his own setback and makes the offense of giving Maryland a one-point lead with 3.3 seconds left.
The Boilermakers had a chance to get the ball quickly on the floor to win it, but the defense of the Terps again brought the cup on the neck, which forced a turnover when the seconds ticked to a victory of 61-60 to clinch.
“I think we always answer when we’re against the wall,” said senior guard Darryl Morsell. ‘… We knew we had to stop to win. So I think we locked in when it mattered, got the necessary points and we all made some big hits. ‘
In the run-up to the match, consistency was the main concern for Mark Turgeon’s squad. The team knew its identity rested in its defense, but its effort and energy on the side of the ball varied from game to game. Tuesday night was the Terps’ chance to follow up on their goal to go hard in every possession to secure their first win in College Park and upset another opponent. And it did exactly that in the last minute of the game.
“I told our staff … today I said, ‘Guys, we need to get this win if we’re going to do anything,’ Turgeon said after the win. “Today was really important. It would have made it difficult for us to be part of a national season if we did not win today. ”
The two teams were locked in a close game from the start, and neither of the two scored more than ten points, until Purdue was left with about eight minutes left in the first half, at which point Purdue led 11-9. .
After the Terps’ defense struggled to protect Wisconsin in the first period of its last game, the Boilermakers forced the game to start the game 3-for-10 off the floor and turn the ball around regularly.
Although it showed much better ball movement than in previous games, Maryland sometimes had trouble making out the appearance of the Boilermaker defense. Still, players got in the paint to make mistakes and were left with 9:45 until halftime in the bonus – although in the end it did not amount to much.
As the half progressed, the team found more open shots, but the Terps were unable to knock them down – a common phenomenon during this season, especially during the opening period. Maryland entered the halftime with a 1-of-12 point on the three-ball. The team also did not shoot the ball particularly well on any other part of the floor, and after 20 minutes only had a field goal percentage of 40.9%.
With Purdue at 27-22, the biggest lead of the game up to that point, and less than a minute left in the half, Maryland knew it had to make something happen.
Ayala aggressively drives into the paint and pulls two defenders near the basket. Instead of taking the contested shot, he found an open Hakim Hart in the left corner of the arc. After receiving the bounce pass, Hart took a dribble, pumped and forged his defender and drained a deep two-pointer to reduce the deficit to three entering the halftime.
Turgeon often throws his hands up in horror as he watches the Boilermakers ‘shots fall to start the second half, clearly frustrated with the Terps’ defensive effort not being transferred from the first half. The head coach and his staff showed a lot of emotions throughout the game as they tried to lead the team to the first victory at home. He said earlier this week that Maryland could not take down one property, and if they did, staff were quick to remind them.
With six points higher, Purdue got the chance to take his biggest lead of the game and tap life from the home side. But the Terps did not want it to happen; there was too much at stake.
Ayala put the guard Isaiah Thompson under pressure when he tried to make something happen outside the arc, eventually forcing the Boilermaker to throw a reflection to Treivon Williams in the paint. Met by a swarm of players from Maryland, Williams tried to give an outlet pass, but Morsell jumped into the air to intercept the ball.
The senior guard jumped to the track, slowed down for a moment and then threw a dime to Ayala on the left side of the arc. Ayala quickly throws up the triple and brings the game within reach again.
“I thought Darryl was great all night,” Turgeon said. “Defensively, his leadership, he did not want us to lose.”
The Terps did not allow Purdue to score on the next two possessions and began to find their rhythm on offense, with Aaron Wiggins tapping a triple point from the top of the arc to make the game 36-36 let play equal.
Purdue made a turn with his next ride across the floor, but Wiggins followed it up with another triangle from the same spot, asking his teammates on the couch to jump out of their seats, cheerfully, screaming and waving towels around . Maryland could see that it was right in the deciding game; the question was whether it could take advantage of the momentum.
“Our mindset was just confident and we knew shots would fall in the second half,” Wiggins said. “After we started, there was nothing you could do to stop us.”
While the close game kept going back and forth, Maryland’s defense played the hero again as it kept Purdue without a field goal for 3:21. Still, the match could be attended by everyone, and the Boilermakers knew it. They then made five of their next seven strokes to take a 52:58 lead with 4:53 left.
Purdue continued to hold a slim lead as the minutes ticked. Similar to their first game of the season, which the Boilermakers took 73-70 after the Terps were not late at the line, the game would come on the wire. But this time, The Terps refused to let a victory slip out of their grasp.
“A lot of us guys were emotional because we knew we could get it and everyone believed it,” Wiggins said. ‘… It was a really good win for us. You know, it gives us confidence when we keep playing in such a difficult conference and against big teams. “
Three things to know
1. Maryland forced Purdue into early fouls. Purdue was one of the teams with the largest turnover in the Big Ten this season, and Maryland immediately took advantage of that. Led by his senior guard, Darryl Morsell, the Terps forced 11 turnovers in the first half, just two less than the Boilermakers averaged per game.
Purdue finished the game with 15 total turnover, leading to eight points for Maryland.
2. The Mounds were hit on the boards early. For the second consecutive game, Maryland lost the setback. Purdue took a 17-9 lead on the boards during the break, including six on the attacking glass. The Boilermakers broke out the Mounds 33-24, with just one Mound in Wiggins scoring more than four boards. But by the time it mattered most, Maryland was getting the rebound needed to seal the game.
3. Treivon Williams bounced back in a big way. In the last meeting of these two teams, dirty trouble limited Trevion Williams to end up in his dynamic offensive rhythm. That was not the case Tuesday night, as Williams attacked the Terps at random from the opening tip of the game.
He completed 23 points on 9-of-12 shooting, and he also pulled down 11 rebounds to clinch a game-high. However, it was Williams’ fault with Purdue’s final possession of the game that sealed the victory for the Terps.