Although it seems like forever ago, the Maryland men’s basketball team faced Iowa Jan. 3, when Iowa sophomore forward Keegan Murray completely dominated the court and posted a career-high 35 points.
Maryland had a chance to even its season series against the Hawkeyes on Thursday, Feb. 10 at Xfinity Center in College Park, Md.
But nothing changed. Instead, it became much worse for a Maryland team that cannot find a way to turn its season around. The Terps (11-13, 3-10 Big Ten) fell, 110-87, to the Hawkeyes (16-7, 6-6 Big Ten).
“First, I want to give credit to Iowa. … For us, I feel like it’s more of like an effort thing,” graduate guard Fatts Russell said. “We’ve just got to give 100 percent the whole game and every possession. We talked about it, but we just can’t keep talking about it. We’ve actually got to do it in a game.”
Junior forward Donta Scott got things rolling first for Maryland, as he drained a 3-pointer only 30 seconds into the game. But it did not take long for Murray to find his rhythm. He scored his first basket nearly two minutes after the start, a pull-up jumper inside the paint.
Seconds later, Murray grabbed a rebound off a shot from Maryland senior guard Eric Ayala. Murray sprinted down the court with his teammates and opponents trailing behind him and hit another pull-up jumper. Quiet sighs emanated from a nearly empty Xfinity Center, as fans could already tell that this was only the beginning of a long night.
Maryland soon drilled two 3-pointers in a row — one from Ayala and another from graduate guard Xavier Green — as the Terps appeared to have improved from behind the arc early on. Russell recorded his 500th career assist on Ayala’s 3-pointer.
But Maryland still did not have an answer for Murray, and Iowa continued to build its lead. The Hawkeyes had an answer for nearly every Terrapin basket. When Russell scored on a turnaround jumper inside the paint as the shot clock expired, Iowa freshman guard Payton Sandfort drained a 3-pointer.
Throughout the final few minutes of the first half, the Hawkeyes continued to control nearly every aspect of the game — points, rebounds, steals and paint touches.
“Iowa’s a very elite team offensively,” Maryland interim head coach Danny Manning said. “We knew that going into the game. You have to tip your hat to the way they shot the basketball.”
After Russell made two layups to bring Maryland within eight points of Iowa (44-36), Murray made two consecutive layups.
The Terps trailed, 57-41, at the end of the first half. Murray already had 16 points. Manning and his players have continued to emphasize the importance of maintaining a mentality to keep fighting, but that fight did not seem present Feb. 10.
“We didn’t provide enough resistance,” Manning said. “We know what the guys are capable of doing, and we just have to have a better effort in terms of making sure that we don’t let guys get comfortable.”
Things became much worse in the second half. Not even six minutes into the second half, Iowa built a quick 74-45 lead.
Maryland had no answer for the Hawkeyes as it headed toward another loss. Murray and redshirt senior guard Jordan Bohannon led Iowa’s offense in the second half. Bohannon finished the night with 10 threes. Each player posted 30 points.
“I’ve been around a lot of basketball,” Manning said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anyone score 30 points on 10 threes.”
As Iowa continued to destroy Maryland on both ends of the court, Manning turned to his bench to provide some much-needed assistance. Graduate forward Simon Wright broke a six-minute scoring drought with a second-chance layup. Sophomore guard Ian Martinez had a driving layup inside the paint. Sophomore guard Marcus Dockery also posted a basket from behind the arc.
Russell remained strong as well, as he drilled two consecutive deep shots.
But none of that mattered since the Terps had dug themselves into too deep of a hole. There was no way to recover from this one. None of the Terps’ starters played the final few minutes of the game.
“We’ve got to find a way. Nobody will feel sorry for you,” Manning said. “This is what competitive Big Ten basketball is like, and we’ve got to find a way. We’ve got to make sure we get back to work tomorrow.”
The Terrapins’ season will end in a few short weeks, and they do not appear to have an answer to their endless struggles. Every loss is similar — the Terps can never contain the opposing team’s star player, build and maintain a substantial lead and play a high-energy game from tip to horn.
The Terps will face No. 3 Purdue on Sunday, Feb. 13 and attempt to turn things around once again.
“We got a lot of veteran guys,” Russell said. “We are going to keep fighting.”
Photo Credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox