It won’t be a joyful holiday break for Maryland men’s basketball.
The No. 7 Terps dropped their second consecutive contest Dec. 19, falling 52-48 at Seton Hall in Newark, N.J. Maryland put itself in another hole, falling behind, 20-7, and trailing by as many as 15 points. The Terps made a late run, getting within two points as the game turned into mayhem in the final minute, but Seton Hall escaped with the victory.
It’s a signature win for the Pirates, who were without All-American Myles Powell and second-leading scorer Sandro Mamukelashvili. But it’s an even more crushing loss for the Terps, who couldn’t take advantage of a shorthanded opponent. Maryland shot 14-of-52 (26.9 percent) from the floor, a second consecutive season-worst. Anthony Cowan Jr.’s 16 points came on 3-of-14 shooting. Aaron Wiggins went 4-of-11, Eric Ayala was 1-of-6 and Darryl Morsell was 1-of-5.
The Terps did grab 42 rebounds to Seton Hall’s 33 and made 15 of 20 free throws, which kept the game close. But as close as the final score ended up being, Maryland never had a real chance.
Maryland somehow set a new low for first halves this season.
The Terps’ slow starts have familiar features: turnovers, poor shooting, poor ball movement, you name it. For three straight games now, all three aspects were on full display, except this was somehow the worst.
At the four-minute mark of the opening half, the Terps had all of seven points. They were 3-of-22 from the field and hadn’t hit a free throw in over 10 minutes. Even hitting their last three shots of the half was only enough to get them within 27-18 at intermission. They had three assists and 10 turnovers along the way.
Seton Hall’s big men surrendered nothing.
Layups, conceptually, are easy shots. But that’s not the case when there’s constantly a 7-foot-2 defender contesting them, which Seton Hall can throw at teams. Romaro Gill and Ike Obiagu — who played just 22 and 16 minutes, respectively — tallied six blocks each.
Maryland made 14 field goal attempts. Seton Hall blocked the Terps 15 times as a team.
With the big-man platoon in the post, the Terps converted just five of their 18 layup attempts (starting 1-of-12). They couldn’t dribble into the lane with confidence and struggled to dish the ball out to an open shooter. Maryland was fortunate to start drawing more fouls in the second half, getting into the bonus with 7:46 remaining. But it wasn’t enough.
Back to the drawing board.
Maryland had nine days between the Penn State game and this one, but they played like they didn’t pick up a basketball in that time. Not a single Terp shot better than 50 percent from the floor, and only Ricky Lindo had more assists than turnovers.
The shooting woes earlier in the season haven’t disappeared; they’ve intensified. Maryland has still shot over 35 percent from long distance just twice all season, and in the last three contests, it’s shot 33 percent, 33 percent and 29 percent from the field. The Terps are capable of blowing past teams with one big run, but they still haven’t found ways to break a slump.
The Terps are off for 10 more days before hosting Bryant Dec. 29. After that, it’s a pair of Big Ten home contests against Indiana (which might be ranked) and Ohio State (which will definitely be ranked). Maryland won’t be competitive in conference play if it continues to perform like this, so now it’s all on Mark Turgeon and the players to right the ship.
Photo Credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox