Everything was falling apart for Maryland’s men’s basketball.
With less than two minutes left, a 16-point lead on Penn State shrank to one. Then the Nittany Lions took their first lead of the game, while the Terrapin defense struggled to do the job and the offense got cold.
Things only got worse from there.
With about 30 seconds left, Maryland tried to follow a harassing offense, struggling to adjust as his opponent moved the ball back and forth, in and out of the paint, a complex zipper.
The ball finally found forward Seth Lundy outside the top right of the arc. Attack Donta Scott tried to run, but it was too late when the Nittany Lion pulled the trigger and sank the triple.
The three-pointer was the final blow in this one, as Maryland completely fell apart in the final minutes to suffer a debilitating 66-61 defeat on senior night.
‘You have devastating life losses, and this is one of them. Lots of tears in the locker room, “said head coach Mark Turgeon. ‘And we played well early, did not play late and could not stop it, you know. The momentum changed and we could not stop it. ”
With the loss, the Terps end up tied with Michigan State for eighth place in the Big Ten rankings. They had the chance to be equal for the sixth participation in the match.
In a Feb. 14 game with Minnesota, Maryland scored just four wins in the Big Ten game, and the chances of an NCAA tournament being hosted remain obscure. The Terrapins deserved some great upset, but they were meticulously contradictory.
The team was selected to finish 11th in the Big Ten, and it showed early on when Maryland sailed around the relentless conference. It certainly wasn’t ideal, but it was a bit understandable because Turgeon’s squad adapted to the absence of his two best players from a season ago in Anthony Cowan Jr. and Jalen Smith, along with a bunch of role players, and that without an off-season due to the pandemic.
It looked like everything had turned around, Maryland with a chance to end the Big Ten season above 0.500 after a five game. But the winning streak crumbled, with Maryland dropping its last two games of the regular season.
“It’s hard. I mean, I can’t even explain how difficult the season has been, the normal season up to this point, ”said Turgeon. ‘… You’re going to be selected from the 11th … you overcome a lot of things, and that’s what makes it devastating. I’m really proud of a lot of things we did, you know, to get 15 wins and nine league wins. But yes, it’s crushing. ”
Maryland was eager to return from a loss in the Northwest, walking out of the gates on Sunday night with a 12-0 run and doing so within four and a half minutes, while Penn State was forced to take its first nine strokes miss. It was the third consecutive game for the Terps to start a big run to get things started, including an 11-0 run to open its game against Michigan State and a 9-0 series against the Wildcats, although the one did not last long in the defeat.
Maryland started to face similar problems as last time against Northwest, and committed a series of turnovers to get its opponent back into the game. Penn State got the game nearly five points. Still, the Terps were able to get back on track quickly and achieve five consecutive field goals to get an 18-9 lead again with 10:22 in the half.
After refusing a second chance attempt from John Harrar, Nittany Lion attempt, Galin Smith made a heroic leap to the ball, preventing it from going out of bounds and then giving it to Darryl Morsell. The senior guard chased the court down, misleading the defense by quickly stopping outside the paint and then throwing up a lob that Hakim Hart emphatically knocked down.
The electrifying series indicated the Terps’ eighth version of their last ten shot attempts and a point of 68.6% off the field so far. On the other hand, the Nittany Lions were 5-for-19, only 26.3%. The complete suffocation helped move Maryland to a lead of as much as 16 points in a completely dominant start to the game.
But it will shrink thanks to a 10-0 run from Penn State in less than two minutes. Still, Maryland responded once again, with Darryl Morsell making a personal five-point attack shortly before halftime, in which they took a 33-23 lead.
However, Penn State hung around while the halftime lead was cut in half. The Nittany Lions were within five points less than five minutes after an expensive Maryland turnover and, including an one-on-one on a triple.
“Just be mindful of the plays you make and make sure it’s the right play at the end of the day,” Donta Scott said where things went wrong and took care of the ball. ‘Not to force it, not to play for a championship or a winning battle. Just go for simple plays, nice, easy plays so you get easy, nice points. ”
Shortly thereafter, however, Scott drained a triple. And then another came. Wiggins drove into the paint, turned around and passed the ball past the arc on the corner, Scott, who used a faint hesitation to throw down his defender and easily tap a triple from the corner. The second forward’s personal 6-0 run increased the Terps again by a large margin with a 50-36 lead with 11:24 left. The big lead made the loss even harder to swallow.
Although Penn State hung around, the Terps still seemed somewhat in control, at least until the advantage shrank in the final five minutes, eventually to just one point at 57-56 with 1:47 left. That was when everything changed. It was then that everything slipped away.
The Nittany Lions took their first lead of the game and never looked back, making their final four strokes when Maryland fell apart. For the first time all night, the Terps did not respond because they struggled to make key shots and defend according to their standards, and their confidence was nowhere to be found.
“They gained momentum at the end of the second half, made tough shots and got to the basket,” Wiggins said. ‘And I mean, you have to give them credit, they executed, you know, they did not stop. And we just weren’t that good defensively the last few minutes. So it really came down to biting us. ”
So Maryland got off the track in despair, and the frustration of players and coaches was as clear as the day after the crushing defeat.
“Our guys are just crushed,” Turgeon said. “We expected to win the game, and it just snowed and we really could not stop it, and it’s hard. It’s really hard. ‘
Three things to know
1. The Terps will be number 8 in the Big Ten tournament. With the loss, Maryland will face Michigan State in the second round at 11:30 a.m. Thursday at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The road in Indianapolis will not be easy, as the winner between the Terps and Spartans will face top-seeded Michigan in the quarterfinals.
2. Aaron Wiggins had another impressive performance. After Wiggins scored 26 points on 10-for-15 shots against Northwest, including five tries on nine attempts, he stepped up again to lead his team. He finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds, his fifth double-double of the season.
Wiggins was a spark for the Terrapins during his impressive run to end the season. Over the past seven games, he has averaged 18.1 points and 7.1 rebounds. As the team enters the post-season, it will live and die through the performance of the junior guard. The Terrapins definitely hope he stays warm.
3. The Terps again struggled to get to the free throw line. It is much easier said to get to the free throw line than recently for the Terps. Maryland lived on the queue until its loss last Wednesday to Northwest, where it undertook only seven total trips to the charity line. The same was true in Sunday’s game, which made 7-out-13 (53.8%) off the line in this game in yet another disappointing offensive display.