After turning the ball for the 17th time with less than nine minutes to go before the game against Nebraska, the men’s basketball in Maryland needed to start taking care of the ball if they wanted a chance to come out on top.
About four minutes later and still trying to find their offensive pace, the Terps tried to put the ball in the painting, but had their pass deflected out of the field under the basket, narrowly avoiding the 18th night turn.
But on the next move, senior guard Darryl Morsell threw a pass to Aaron Wiggins into the painting, where the junior guard took the pass and scored in a move to put Maryland ahead by six.
Wiggins’ bucket set off a 7-0 run for Maryland, with the Terps dominating the Cornhuskers in the home stretch, going without a turn in the final 8:49 am of the game to win a 64-50 victory over Nebraska on Tuesday night.
“I think we started to be more patient,” said striker Jairus Hamilton. “We started to find our spots where we really need to go and understand what they were giving us and just starting to accept what they were giving us instead of trying to force things that weren’t there, and I think we did a really good job just with settings. “
The upsets interrupted the Terps’ offensive pace early on, after winning 8-7 almost five minutes after the start of the competition, with the team forcing passes through tight windows where the Huskers were waiting to attack. Nebraska forced Maryland to six spins in the first ten minutes, after only distributing them 11 times against the Gophers.
With their rotation problems, the Terps were goalless for more than three and a half minutes. At the other end, Nebraska looked sharp beyond the bow.
The team’s top scorer, Teddy Allen, took a defender Terp from the dribble, which forced the defense to collapse and leave Dalano Banton open in the corner, where he sank the open triple to place the Cornhuskers in 18-14 and give Nebraska the fifth three points from the first half. The Huskers hit 6 out of 14 in the three-point streak in the first twenty minutes, despite being second to last in the Big Ten by a percentage of three points.
However, Maryland received a significant increase in scores from an unexpected source. Striker Jairus Hamilton shot less than three points per game this season, but came out shooting in the first half.
He hit three points from all over the floor, including one from the top of the bracket to trigger a 9-0 run to put Maryland back 25-21 ahead with 5:05 remaining for the break.
Hamilton finished with 11 points in the first half, drawing his record of the season with three points in a game with three points in the first half and scoring double digits for the first time in seven games.
Still, the Terps continued to make exaggerated turns over the period, allowing Nebraska to keep things closed.
With 4:03 left, Wiggins recovered a defensive rebound and tried to push through the transition. Seeing Hamilton cut towards the edge, Wiggins tried a three-quarter alley-oop of the court that ricocheted off the edge and returned to the Cornhuskers’ hands, ending a promising opportunity to build with a two-point advantage.
The Terps committed 10 total turnovers in the first half, a severe regression after showing promise in that department in their last games.
“They had a lot of work there,” said Wiggins of Nebraska’s defense. “But we are just careless with the ball. We have to be a little bit stronger mentally to make the right moves, to fake a pass and make a pass, and we definitely have to cut those turns. “
Nebraska had 13 steals in the night, the most any team has stolen from the Terps this season. The previous high was nine.
But Maryland ended the half with a bang, with senior guard Darryl Morsell attempting a feat similar to Wiggins’, shooting a half-court shot as the final seconds passed. Watching his shot with the Maryland logo on the center court, Morsell’s shot miraculously hit the glass to give his team a boost and a 32-28 lead at halftime.
However, despite Morsell’s heroic deeds, the team left in the second half to revert to old habits.
Wiggins tried to break his defender with a dribble in the first possession of the team in the first half, but was called for a double dribble, turning him over in the first moments of the second.
Neither team managed to score in the first three minutes of the period, a cold spell that was broken with a three-point ball from Donta Scott to put Maryland ahead 35-28 at the 16:44 mark.
But the turnover bug continued to affect Maryland throughout the second half, constantly killing whatever rhythm the team was desperately looking for on the offensive side. Galin Smith positioned himself to receive an entry pass into the painting, but as soon as Hakim Hart gave him the ball, Smith was surrounded and eliminated by two different Husker defenders.
In the next possession, Smith went to the low post and again made himself available for a pass, but this time, Wiggins telegraphed the pass and allowed his defender to steal the ball in the air, a turn that immediately led to a Teddy Allen jumping for score 40-38 in favor of Maryland with 11:58 remaining.
The Terps turned four times over 3:30, breaking the record for 16 games of the season with just under nine minutes remaining.
“It’s frustrating, I don’t know what influenced [the turnovers], to be very real with you, ”said coach Mark Turgeon. “Are many. We just have to be better. We just have to be better with the ball than we were tonight and, hopefully, we will be tomorrow. “
Maryland managed to maintain a small advantage over Nebraska throughout the game, but eventually saw the Cornhuskers retreat, even with a three-pointer from Kobe Webster with 8:12 left.
Both teams continued to trade buckets, while Wiggins continued to seek his shot in the attack, despite struggling to score after his impressive start to the game. With Morsell’s lob score, he extended Maryland’s lead to six.
Wiggins continued his attack on the rim when he started to advance, driving to the left with Dalano Banton strapped to his hip before hitting a difficult basket and foul, increasing the team’s lead to nine points when the Huskers began to lose strength.
Nebraska failed to score a field goal in the final 3:32 of the game, allowing Maryland to beat the Cornhuskers 22-9 in the final eight minutes, and ultimately achieved a double-digit victory at College Park. The victory marked the Terps’ first pair of consecutive wins in the Big Ten and their second win in three days. They are set to face the Cornhuskers again on Wednesday night.
“We couldn’t do anything offensively and suddenly we started,” said Turgeon. “We keep talking about defense, defense, defense. We will protect them, make three consecutive stops and just keep talking about defense and try not to put pressure on our guys offensively. “
Three things to know
1. Jairus Hamilton had a career night. Maryland has been struggling to get consistent contributions from its bank this season, but has received many contributions from Jairus Hamilton this season. Hamilton had perhaps his best performance as a Terp on Tuesday night, tying his career with 15 points and burying three of his four attempts at three points, also tying a career record in triple feats.
“I was feeling very confident,” said Hamilton. “I know this was not the best year for me, either, but I just want to be confident, be ready for anytime they need me.”
2. The Terps again find a way to win the rebound battle. It is no secret that this is one of the smallest teams in Maryland that has had in recent memory. However, this did not prevent the Terps from being able to stay in the glass. Maryland kicked off 43 rebounds, scoring the highest total this season since getting 48 rebounds against Saint Peter.
3. Eric Ayala and Aaron Wiggins fought beyond the arc. The Terps’ two top scorers had a silent display in this game. Although they scored 14 and 21 points, respectively, the pair agreed to shoot just 3 out of 16 on three-point attempts, with Wiggins being responsible for two of the successful attempts.