Terrapins Men’s Basketball Falls to Michigan
The Maryland Terrapins (6-5) fell to the No. 2 Michigan Wolverines (10-0) 101-83 Saturday night at the Xfinity Center.
Michigan Head Coach Dusty May said following their win, “I thought Maryland played hard. They have some young guys that don’t have the level of experience that we have across the board.” He continued, “The final score is not indicative of how close this game was.”
After their 19-point defeat at Iowa, the Terps looked to dethrone the undefeated Michigan Wolverines. Michigan however, looked to take another step closer to No. 1 overall in the nation and start the season 10-0.
Michigan led 84-73 with eight minutes left in the game. The Wolverines continued to pressure Maryland on the defensive end and Maryland couldn’t get anything going for over two minutes.
Michigan point guard Elliot Cadeau emphasized their defensive prowess. “It all starts with defense for us, that’s our identity,” he continued, “they were making tough shots, but it was on us, we could’ve stepped it up defensively and we feel like we did that in the second half.”
The Wolverines continued to score as the Terps offensive struggles continued. Michigan’s 28 assists on 35 makes to Maryland’s nine assists was glaring by the end of this contest.
May said moving the ball was big in this victory, “When you see 28 assists on however many baskets, that’s attribute to a very unselfish basketball team.”
“Some of the things that have been causing us the most harm, I think we’ve made progress on,” Maryland Head Coach Buzz Williams said following the loss. He added “I understand the result and we’re going to continue to work on the result, but the result is the processes and all of the lessons that we need to continue to learn from an execution standpoint and I thought that was much better.”
Maryland implemented a press with just over two minutes left to play but it was too little too late.
Darius Adams made two free throws before the end of the first half to push the Terps lead to 50-45 at halftime. David Coit led all scorers with 22 points at the half. Yaxel Lendeborg led Michigan with 11 points.
Coit opened the second half with a three and then found Elijah Saunders for a three pointer on the next possession. Just as the Terps found some momentum, Solomon Washington picked up his second technical foul on a delay of game. He was disqualified from the rest of the contest. Maryland led 56-49 following the technical free throws.
Lendeborg quickly erased the deficit with back to back three pointers, cutting the Terps lead to just one as Maryland Head Coach Buzz Williams called a timeout to stop the Wolverines momentum.
Within the next minute, Maryland forward George Turkson Jr. received a flagrant one, sparking “Ref’s you suck,” chants throughout the building. Maryland led 60-57 with just under 16 minutes left in regulation.
Williams talked about Turkson, who made his first start tonight, “He has earned the start through the five days of work that we’ve had this week.” He continued, “He thinks of the game more as ‘I want to play really hard’ and ‘I care about winning’ and ‘I want to impact winning whether that’s in the statsheet or not.’”
Lendeborg was fouled on a three-pointer and knocked down all three free throws. The Wolverines led 69-63. The Terps needed some momentum, and they needed it fast if they wanted any hope of pulling off this upset.
A Coit layup and foul might’ve been what the doctor ordered as he finished the three point play the old fashioned way. His 28th point brought the Terps within four.
Williams said following the loss, “Diggy is [a] video game like sometimes in some of the things that he does.”
The home crowd was animated early as Coit put in three 3-pointers in the first four minutes of play. Both teams were rolling early as Michigan led 21-19 with a little over half way left to play in the first frame. Appearances from newly committed track star Quincy Wilson and basketball player Baba Oladotun as well as star quarterback Malik Washington gave the crowd some fuel during breaks.
Myles Rice put in threes on back-to-back possessions, then got fouled and put in two free throws for a personal 8-0 run. The Terps led 35-31 with just under six minutes left to play in the first half.
Forward Pharrel Payne suffered a lower leg injury and could not put any weight on his right leg as he was helped off the court. It seemed the air was sucked out of the building immediately after.
Lendeborg gave flowers to Coit following the win. “He was pretty much a one man army throughout the whole game once Pharrel got injured.”
May on Payne, “He’s a weapon, he’s a dangerous player.”
Coit put in a three off an offensive rebound giving the Terps back some momentum. He put in another three the very next possession, bringing his total to 20 on the night with just under two minutes left to play in the first half. Shooting 6/9 from three, Coit needed to continue using his gravity to open the floor if the Terps were to have a chance at the win in the second half.
Coit led all scorers with 31 points. He also had six rebounds. Rice added 15 points as the only other Terp in double figures.
Lendeborg led the Wolverines with 29 points, nine assists, and eight rebounds. Aday Mara came up big with 18 points. Cadeau put in 12 points and added 10 assists to go along with it.
Maryland will be back in action this Saturday at Virginia.