Maryland’s men’s basketball lost to No. 2 Michigan, 101-83, on Dec. 13 in its conference home opener.
The Terrapins (6-5, 0-2 Big Ten) face another tough challenge in their next matchup when they travel to Charlottesville to take on Virginia on Dec. 20 at 6 p.m.
Maryland got off to a quick start compared to its previous outing at Iowa. The home crowd was energized, and so were the players, especially graduate guard Diggy Coit.
Coit finished with 31 points, shooting 8 of 12 from 3-point range. The Kansas transfer opened the game by scoring nine of Maryland’s first 10 points, going 3 of 5 from beyond the arc. His hot streak continued as he closed the first half with 22 points (6 of 9 from three). The Terrapins ended the half shooting 10 of 18 from deep.
“My shots don’t come from just me,” Coit said. “It comes from everybody, this offense, everybody knowing what they’re doing, everybody being on the same page. So I think we’ve just got to do a better job of making sure that everybody’s on the same page.”
Senior forward Pharrel Payne also started strong, scoring seven points and grabbing four rebounds in 15 minutes. However, after suffering an apparent knee injury late in the first half, he was ruled out for the remainder of the game.
Maryland shot well from the floor but had no answers for Michigan’s offensive attack, resulting in both teams trading buckets throughout the first half. The Wolverines shot 6 of 10 from deep in the first half, but the Terrapins entered the locker room with a 50-45 lead.
“I told the guys just believe,” said redshirt junior guard Myles Rice, who finished with 15 points. “They put their shoes on the same way we put our shoes on. I believe our practices are top in the country. We go through everything that we need to do, in order to prepare ourselves for the moment.”
Maryland continued its 3-point barrage early in the second half, with back-to-back triples from Coit and forward Elijah Saunders extending the lead to 56-47. At that point, though, senior forward Solomon Washington picked up his second technical, disqualifying him from the game. That left the Terrapins with little size to deal with the Wolverines given Payne had gotten hurt earlier in the game.
Maryland’s hot shooting cooled off, allowing Michigan to claw back and use a 7-0 run to take a 69-63 lead with less than 13 minutes left. The Wolverines later went on a decisive 14-2 run to build an 88-73 advantage, with the Terrapins showing no signs of stopping the bleeding. The Wolverines shot 60 percent from the field and 63 percent from 3-point range for the game.
Michigan extended its lead to 94-81 with less than four minutes remaining, effectively sealing the game as Maryland’s early momentum faded. The Terrapins had no answer for Michigan forward Yax Lendeborg, who led the Wolverines with 29 points (4 of 5 from three) and added nine assists and eight rebounds in a near-triple-double.
“Some of the things that have been causing us the most harm, I thought we made progress on,” Maryland head coach Buzz Williams said. “I understand the result, and we’re going to continue to work on the result … and all of the lessons that we need to continue to learn from an execution standpoint. And I thought that was much better.”
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Maryland Athletics