Everything was falling apart for the men’s basketball in Maryland.
With less than two minutes left, a 16-point lead over Penn State has shrunk to one. Then the Lions of Nittany gained their first lead in the competition, the defense of sea turtles struggling to get the job done and the attack cooled.
Things only got worse from there.
With about 30 seconds remaining, Maryland tried to follow an offensive attack, struggling to adjust as its opponent moved the ball back and forth, in and out of the painting, a series of complex passes.
The ball ended up finding striker Seth Lundy beyond the top right corner of the arc. Striker Donta Scott tried to run over, but it was too late when the Lion of Nittany pulled the trigger and sank the triple.
The three-point shot proved to be the final blow in this game, with Maryland completely collapsing in the final minutes to suffer a debilitating 66-61 defeat on national team night.
“You have losses in your life that are devastating, and this is one of them. Lots of tears in the locker room, ”said coach Mark Turgeon. “And we played very early, we didn’t play very late and we couldn’t stop, you know. The momentum has changed and we have not been able to stop it. ”
With the defeat, Terps ended up tied with Michigan State in eighth place in the classification of the Big Ten. They had the chance to tie sixth in the competition.
Entering a February 14 clash with Minnesota, Maryland had just four wins in the Big Ten game, and their chances of a bet on the NCAA Tournament remained bleak. Sea turtles had won some big surprises, but they were meticulously inconsistent.
The team had been chosen to finish 11th in the Big Ten, and this was demonstrated early on, as Maryland sailed through the relentless conference. It certainly wasn’t ideal, but it was somehow understandable, as Turgeon’s team was adjusting to the absence of its two best players from a season ago, Anthony Cowan Jr. and Jalen Smith, along with a number of role players , and doing so without an off-season due to the pandemic.
Everything seemed to have changed, Maryland with a chance to finish the Big Ten season above 0.500 after five games. But that winning streak collapsed late, with Maryland losing its last two competitions of the regular season.
“It’s tough. I mean, I can’t even explain how difficult the season has been, the regular season so far,” said Turgeon. makes it devastating. I’m very proud of the many things we’ve done, you know, to reach 15 victories and nine championship victories. But yes, it’s overwhelming. ”
Anxious to recover from a loss in Northwestern, Maryland went on a 12-0 run out of the gates on Sunday night, doing so in four and a half minutes, while forcing Penn State to miss his first nine shots. It was the third game in a row for the Terps to get into a big race to get things started, including an 11-0 run to open their fight against the state of Michigan and a 9-0 run against the Wildcats, although this one didn’t last much in defeat.
Maryland began to face problems similar to those of the last time against Northwestern, committing a series of twists to allow its opponent to return to the game. Penn State has the game as close as five points. Still, the Terps were able to quickly return to the track, scoring five consecutive field goals to regain the 18-9 lead, with 10:22 to go until the end of the break.
After denying a second chance from the great man of the Nittany Lion, John Harrar, Galin Smith took a heroic leap behind the ball, preventing it from leaving the field and then passing it on to Darryl Morsell. The senior guard ran across the court, tricked the defense by stopping quickly outside the painting and then fired into the air, which Hakim Hart countered emphatically.
The electrifying streak marked Terps’ eighth make in their last 10 pitch attempts and a 68.6% mark on the field so far. On the other hand, Lions of Nittany were 5 out of 19, a mere 26.3%. Complete suffocation helped propel Maryland to a 16-point lead in an entirely dominant start to competition.
But that would decrease thanks to a 10-0 race from Penn State in less than two minutes. However, Maryland responded, once again, with Darryl Morsell making a five-point personal dash in an instant, just before the break, in which he took a 33-23 lead.
However, Penn State remained close by when that lead was cut in half at halftime. The Lions of Nittany were within five points less than five minutes after some expensive turns in Maryland, including one and one in a manufactured triple.
“Be aware of the moves you make and make sure it is the right move at the end of the day,” said striker Donta Scott of where things went wrong in caring for the ball. “Do not force, do not go to a championship game or a winning move. Just choose simple moves, nice and easy moves to get easy and nice points. “
Shortly thereafter, however, Scott drained a triple. And then another came. Wiggins went to the painting, spun and passed the ball past the arc in the corner Scott, who used a hesitation to push his defender away and drain a triple from the corner with ease. The personal streak of 6-0 from the second-year striker put the Terps once again by a large margin with a 50-36 lead with 11:24 remaining. The large lead made the loss even more difficult to swallow.
Although Penn State stayed close, the Terps still seemed a little in control, at least until the advantage waned in the final five minutes, eventually to just one point in 57-56 with 1:47 left. It was then that everything changed. That was when everything went away.
The Lions of Nittany gained their first advantage in the game and never looked back, making their last four shots as Maryland collapsed. For the first time in the entire night, the Terps did not have an answer as they struggled to make their bids and defend themselves according to their standards, with no confidence anywhere.
“They gained momentum at the end of the second half, making difficult kicks and reaching the basket,” said Wiggins. “And I mean, you have to give them credit, they do it, you know, they don’t give up. And we were not so good defensively in the last few minutes. So it really came to bother us. “
Thus, Maryland left the court in despair, the frustration of players and coaches clear the day after the crushing defeat.
“Our guys are just devastated,” said Turgeon. “We were hoping to win the game and it just went off and we really couldn’t stop, and that’s difficult. Those are really difficult. “
Three things to know
1. Terps will be eighth in the Big Ten tournament. With the defeat, Maryland will face Michigan State at 11:30 am on Thursday, in the second round, at Lucas Oil Stadium, in Indianapolis. The road in Indianapolis will not be easy, as the winner between the Terps and the Spartans will face Michigan, seeded, in the quarterfinals.
2. Aaron Wiggins had another impressive performance. After registering 26 points out of 10 out of 15 shots against Northwestern, including five triples in nine attempts, Wiggins once again prepared to lead his team. He finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds, his fifth double-double of the season.
Wiggins was a spark for sea turtles in their impressive run until the end of the season. In the last seven games, he has averaged 18.1 points and 7.1 rebounds. As the team enters the postseason, it will live and die by the performance of the junior guard. The Terrapins certainly expect him to stay warm.
3 The Terps again struggled to reach the free throw line. Getting to the free throw line was much easier said than done recently for the Terps. Maryland lived on the line until her loss last Wednesday to Northwestern, where she made only seven trips in total for the charity strip. The same happened in Sunday’s competition, going 7-of-13 (53.8%) from the line in this one more disappointing offensive display.