Maryland men’s basketball lost a 76-74 overtime decision at Northwestern on Jan. 16.
Maryland (13-5 overall, 3-4 Big Ten) remains winless in true road games but returns home when it faces Nebraska on Jan. 19 at noon at Xfinity Center.
“There’s no time to really feel bad for yourself,” Maryland head coach Kevin Willard said. “We’ve got to go back, watch film, see where we made mistakes, correct those mistakes.”
Here are three takeaways from the defeat at Northwestern:
Maryland’s late push fell short.
It seemed as though Northwestern would pick up a convincing win as the Wildcats used a 13-0 run to build a 56-46 second-half lead, but the Terps had other plans.
Maryland made just 3 of 16 shots to open the second half and went scoreless for five-plus minutes at one point, but the Terps managed to keep the game interesting — maybe too interesting for Northwestern faithful.
Sophomore Rodney Rice (10 points) got Maryland going late with a 3-pointer that cut the deficit to six with less than four minutes to go. The Terps went on an 11-2 run to tie the game and send the game to overtime knotted at 68.
“We went small with [Jay Young and Ja’Kobi Gillespie] just to try to get a little bit more pressure, a little bit more speed out there,” Willard said. “I thought, really, that was a difference-maker.”
Both sides traded baskets and the game looked to be going into double-overtime after Gillespie made a game-tying layup late.
However, Northwestern had one final chance with 0.7 seconds remaining. After a rebound bounced off Maryland senior big man Julian Reese’s leg, the Wildcats were awarded one final possession — and unfortunately for the Terps, junior forward Nick Martinelli’s quick catch-and-shoot attempt beat the buzzer and swooshed through the hoop to end the game.
“Give them credit, they made a nice play and Martinelli made a tough shot,” Willard said.
Derik Queen struggled.
Willard mentioned freshman big man Derik Queen “wasn’t happy” with the way he played in an eight-point performance against UCLA on Jan. 10. In turn, the standout freshman posted a career-high 27 points and seven rebounds in a win against Minnesota on Jan. 13.
But Queen could not impact the game in a similar fashion against the Wildcats because of foul trouble (four fouls). Queen finished with nine points (4 of 9 shooting) and 14 rebounds.
“They did a good job switching, being physical with Derik,” Willard said.
Northwestern’s standout players were too comfortable.
Maryland allowed Northwestern to shoot 55.6 percent from the floor in the first half but held the Wildcats to 40.7 percent in the second half, similar to how the defense picked up in the second half against Minnesota.
However, against Northwestern, the Terps could not slow down Martinelli or Brooks Barnhizer (20 points). Martinelli and Barnhizer combined shot 17 of 31 (54.8 percent).
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Maryland Athletics