Maryland men’s basketball lost to No. 6 Virginia, 87-83, on Friday, Nov. 13, as the Terps allowed the Cavaliers to erase an 11-point halftime deficit with a 51-point second half.
“I am disappointed in the result,” Maryland head coach Buzz Williams said. “I like a lot of what we did. We did not have the physical, mental, emotional stamina, endurance, from start to finish, that’s required to beat a top-five team.”
After dropping its second game of the season to Georgetown, the Terrapins entered a packed Xfinity Center looking to rebound in front of a “Red Out” crowd. The theme of the night was “Crush Cavs,” and for much of the first half, Maryland appeared poised to do just that.
Maryland’s defense set the tone from the opening tip. While Virginia shot a respectable 48 percent from the field in the first half, the numbers did not fully reflect how disruptive the Terrapins were early on.
Virginia opened the game shooting just 2-for-8 from the field and was limited to 5-for-17 shooting midway through the half as Maryland consistently forced difficult looks and disrupted the Cavaliers’ offensive flow.
“Maryland made us play not like ourselves in the first half,” Virginia head coach Ryan Odom said.
The Terrapins, however, struggled to capitalize offensively.
After scoring the game’s first basket, Maryland endured an early drought, missing its next three field-goal attempts, squandering two free throws and committing two turnovers before fifth-year big man Pharrel Payne ended the run with an and-one opportunity.
“When you’re playing a game of this magnitude, you have no margin of error,” Williams said. “And you could almost say you have a negative margin. And so when you have empty possessions or average possessions, average is not enough.”
Despite controlling much of the action defensively, Maryland was unable to create significant separation for most of the half. Virginia remained within striking distance even as a sold-out Xfinity Center crowd tried to energize the home side.
Williams would have liked to have seen his team take advantage of the turnovers it forced in the first half.
“We did a great job of creating more opportunities for us,” Williams said. “I think they turned it over several times more than we did. We just need to capitalize more offensively.”
The Terrapins finally found another gear in the closing seconds before halftime.
Fueled by the crowd’s energy, Maryland closed the half on an 8-3 run in the final 43 seconds. The surge was capped by a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by graduate guard Mike McNair Jr., giving the Terrapins a 47-36 advantage and sending the home crowd into a frenzy.
But after halftime, the momentum shifted completely.
Unlike the opening 20 minutes, Virginia’s offense found its rhythm in the second half and rarely cooled off. The Cavaliers shot 11-for-15 from the floor during a key stretch early in the period, while Maryland managed just 6-for-18 shooting during the same span.
“I thought in the first half, we did a much better job within each possession, regardless of who shot, being more aware of our shot quality,” Williams said.
Virginia finished the second half shooting 20-for-26 from the field and ended the game 33-for-53 overall. Maryland shot just 11-for-29 after halftime and finished 24-for-57 from the floor.
Cavaliers guard Sam Lewis led all scorers with 28 points. Lewis connected on 8 of his 9 field-goal attempts, scoring 17 points after the break.
Payne once again led Maryland’s frontcourt effort, finishing with 20 points and three rebounds. Freshman guard Kaden House provided a spark off the bench with 17 points.
“I think that for sure I could have had a better performance,” House said. “I gave up two offensive rebounds, and I kind of got too deep in the paint a few times. Even though I played all right, it obviously wasn’t enough.”
Virginia chipped away at Maryland’s lead, using a 9-0 run to erase much of the deficit before eventually tying the game at 67. The Cavaliers then reclaimed the lead for the first time since the opening minutes of the first half, when they led 5-2.
The teams traded baskets down the stretch, but Virginia delivered the decisive blow with a 5-0 run in the final minute to extend its advantage to 85-79.
Free throws in the closing seconds sealed the victory for the Cavaliers, spoiling Maryland’s Red Out.
Maryland will now look to Monday, Nov. 16, when it hosts Alcorn State at Xfinity Center.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Maryland Athletics